Strictly Off The Record
by dolphingirl0113
Summary: [AU] Lies, scandal, and deceit...those are only a few of the things Inuyasha Yamamoto's stories expose. But as Kagome Higurashi soon discovers, his secrets kept off the record are even worse. Is a man she can hardly stand really worth her life?
1. Chapter One

**Author's Notes**

Hello, everyone! Did you all think I'd died? Man, I did for a while. Anyway, this is my latest story. It's actually one that has been evolving in my mind for some time. I originally posted it on my profile page as "Inconveniently in Love with You", but changed my mind as the story developed. So here it is. And yes, it is yet another Inuyasha/Kagome romance, though I hope to have plenty of mystery, drama, and suspense as well. I'm always looking to try and explore new ways of writing stories, so I hope this one turns out alright. I hope to have another chapter posted within the week. Blessings!

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Title: Strictly Off the Record 

Author: dolphingirl0113

Chapter I

Rating: PG-13 (for language and at times implied sexual situations)

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

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The little bell hanging from the door chimed daintily, announcing the arrival of another customer for the quaint little bookstore sandwiched between two other trendy boutiques along the infamous fifth avenue in New York City. It wasn't a large store as booksellers went, but it was still large enough to have two levels, the second floor visible from the first when one gazed up an antique spiral staircase carved out of carefully polished wood stained a deep red, and the setup was beautifully old-fashioned with books lining the walls tucked away in shelves that matched the wood of the staircase, ladders swinging along the bookcases to provide help for customers to reach the higher shelves on both floors. 

Windows lined the entire front of the store, outlined by antique white-velvet drapes pulled back and clasped by golden ropes tied into perfect bows, and just to the left of the door sat a heavy and ornately carved desk stained to match the rest of the store, the modern cash register, credit card machine, and filing cabinets seeming slightly out of place on top of it.

Sitting behind the desk in an equally antique chair, her legs crossed, was a young woman with long brown hair twisted atop her head before falling freely down her back in a thick mass of loose curls. Flipping through a magazine, she flicked her gaze toward the door as she heard the bell, and her glossy lips twitched into a slight smile while her eyes, which were subtly tinged with pink eye shadow, sparkled.

The customer, a handsome man with broad shoulders and jet-black hair that was clasped as usual into a small ponytail at the nape of his neck, turned and grinned back at the woman in response. "Hey Sango! I didn't know you'd be working here today!"

The woman returned her magazine to where it belonged on the stand next to the checkout counter as she replied. "I never work here, Miroku; I just like to waste my life away helping Kagome when I'm not running my own business."

He chuckled and sauntered up to the counter in a way that always caused Sango's heart to pound, though she hid it well enough with a haughty stare that said she would not be like every other woman he knew and fall for his deep, violet eyes and sexy physique.

"So where is Kagome?" Miroku finally asked as he reached the checkout counter and placed a hand on the hard wooden surface.

"In the back unloading the latest shipment for the store, why?"

"I have the magazines she ordered."

Sango gave him a withering stare. "And do you make personal deliveries to all of Reality Check's other subscribers as well, or are we just special?"

He winked. "You know why I come by every week."

She blushed. "And the answer's still no, Miroku."

"We'll see about that, dear Sango. We'll see."

It was a dance they'd been doing for the last two years, ever since Sango and her best friend Kagome had met Miroku, a writer for _Reality Check_ magazine, while jogging through Central Park. It hadn't been the most graceful introduction, with Kagome tripping over Miroku's foot where he was eating lunch on a park bench only to have him unceremoniously plant his hand on her lower backside without permission...but once everything was sorted out (including Sango apologizing after she gave Miroku a swift kick to his groin in defense of her friend) they had become fast friends, and ever since the man rarely missed coming by each week to drop off the new issue of the magazine personally.

In that time both women had figured out that Miroku, while harmless, had a weakness for beautiful women, and a wandering hand that all too often found itself on offended parts of the female anatomy. It had been harmless enough until Miroku had turned his flirtatious eye on Sango, because the woman had found to her utter horror that she responded by becoming very attracted to him as well. So now each time he came to the store it was a battle of wits as she tried to keep her true feelings masked, knowing she'd rather die than tell him how she felt.

But it was certainly difficult when he looked at her like that...

"Hey Miroku! When did you get here?"

Sango breathed a heavy sigh of relief when the man in question looked away and instead focused those dangerously beautiful eyes of his on Kagome, her best friend and the owner of the bookstore. Unlike her, Kagome was not attracted to Miroku, and as such had no qualms about responding flatly to any of his flirtatious suggestions.

"Just a few minutes ago." He smiled warmly. "I have your weekly box of _Reality Check_, hot off the press, just the way you like it."

Kagome chuckled at his choice of words before shaking her head and moving forward to collect the large cardboard box sitting at his feet. "I assume this is it?"

"Of course."

Laughing, she hefted the box into her arms and grunted under its weight. "It's what I love about Fridays," she commented to Sango. "All the deliveries." The brunette just chuckled in response and moved around the counter.

"Let me take it for you, Kagome. You've been lugging boxes around all morning and are going to ruin your new white blouse."

Glancing down (or at least attempting with the box practically wedged against her nose), Kagome laughed again before shrugging and setting the box on the counter for Sango to retrieve. "It's already ruined anyway, but thanks, Sango. My arms could use a break."

"No problem." She smiled and efficiently cut open the lid with a box cutter, whipping out one bound stack of magazines before taking the rest in her arms. "You may as well put those out now and get rid of last week's issue."

"Right." Kagome reached down and plucked the two remaining issues from their place in front of the checkout counter before replacing them with the new issue for the week to come. Waving the two old magazines at Miroku, she grinned. "Congratulations, Miroku; once again your magazine sold almost all of its issues, and beat the competition by a mile." She indicated the other magazines on display, many of which she knew had their last bound stack still hidden in the back. It was amazing to her how popular _Reality Check_ was, considering it had reached the top of the food chain almost four years ago and had not moved ever since. That was unheard of in the media business, where the news, fashion, and popularity were ever-changing.

Miroku grinned like a boy who knew the secrets of the universe. "Did you expect anything else?" He challenged.

Kagome shrugged. "I didn't give it much thought either way. I prefer books to magazines any day, but selling the magazines is an easy way to appease some of my sponsors."

"You mean you never read my magazine?"

Kagome laughed. "It's not just _your_ magazine, Miroku."

He pouted. "I'm a crucial component of its success, Kagome."

"You're the Entertainment Critic."

"And people rely heavily on my reviews to decide which movie, opera, ballet, or Broadway show to see."

She just laughed again and shook her head, her long ebony hair falling over her shoulders as she leaned forward to snatch up a folded section of the newspaper hidden behind the counter. "Speaking of your magazine, Miroku, I noticed that _Reality Check_ received some publicity in the New York Times last week." Kagome efficiently unfolded the newspaper and indicated an article circled in red ink. "Explain this to me. I'm curious to know how accurate the reporter was in his story."

Miroku grimaced and looked away without even glancing at the article in question, already knowing which one it was. "It's true, unfortunately. All of it."

Kagome blinked and turned to look at the article herself. "Really?" She hadn't been expecting that answer. She'd figured there would have maybe been a shred of truth in an otherwise overdone scandal...like usual. "So how is your boss handling it then?"

"Sesshoumaru's just taking it all in stride, like he does everything." Miroku shrugged. "Though I'm sure behind those cold eyes of his he's livid. Actually, I know he's livid. He's been scowling nonstop for the past two weeks, and since it happened he hasn't let his brother anywhere near an important story."

Kagome whistled in appreciation of that statement. "That's certainly saying something. Inuyasha is just about the best reporter in the country, if not one of the best in the world. It hurts not just him but the magazine as well if he's not allowed to write his usual stories."

"Yeah, but it had to be done. Inuyasha's my best friend, but even I realize the horrendous mistake he made." Without thinking, Miroku took the _Times'_ article in his hand and skimmed the headline.

**AMBITIOUS REPORTER BLOWS STORY FOR PROSTITUTE'S COMPANY**

_Inuyasha Yamamoto, recently named one of the 50 most eligible bachelors in the United States and one of the youngest stars in the world of cutting-edge journalism, was recently found guilty of handing in false information for his latest story meant to expose secrets of the senate in D.C. Until recently it has been a highly anticipated story that was already pursued by network television to be turned into a documentary. _

_But the first piece of the story, which was published just two weeks ago in Reality Check magazine, was quickly attacked by the senators in question for producing false information, and their accusations were upheld in court as truth after Yamamoto admitted to failing to check his sources on some of his facts. "It's the first time I trusted a middleman to do some of my research," he stated as he left the courthouse, "And I won't make that mistake again."_

_Though that should have been the end of it, just two days after his court appearance, it came to light that Yamamoto had been spending much of his time for the last few months with a prostitute who shall remain anonymous. Questions have thus been raised about his competency as a journalist, and has also cast an unfavorable light for the first time on Reality Check magazine. _

"_Inuyasha was foolish in his choices, and shall be dealt with accordingly," Sesshoumaru Yamamoto, older half-brother and owner of the magazine, stated when questioned. "I want it understood that the actions of one foolish young man does not change Reality Check's views on integrity and honesty." When asked if he would be discreet in his handling of the situation due to his relationship with Yamamoto, Sesshoumaru merely had this to say: "If anything the punishment will be more severe. Inuyasha will be lucky to write for Reality Check magazine again any time in the near future."_

_As of yet no further information has come to light, and Yamamoto's fate remains as of yet unclear and undecided. Sesshoumaru made no statement about plans to fire his younger brother, but did make it clear that there would be repercussions for his actions._

_And as for Yamamoto himself, he appears untroubled by the potential ruin of his once-bright future as a reporter. "I apologize to those who were injured in my failure to check my sources, but I will not apologize for the company I kept. That is my business, and mine alone."_

Shaking his head, Miroku folded up the newspaper once more, feeling a wince on his face on behalf of his unrepentant friend. Of course, he knew that Inuyasha had not been with the prostitute for anything other than information on a private matter he was reluctant to tell the general public about...but even so, it didn't look good for anyone, let alone someone as high profile as Inuyasha, to be found slumming around on the streets and in dirty hotel rooms with prostitutes twice his age.

"You're awfully quiet," Kagome finally stated after returning from guiding one of her customers over to the romance section of the store on the second floor.

Miroku just shook his head and put the article back on the counter before standing up. "I guess I should be grateful that at least _Reality Check_ is still selling like it always has in spite of everything."

Kagome laughed and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning against the side of the ornate counter as she tossed her long ebony ponytail over her shoulder. She was a beautiful woman...stunning, really. A pale, heart-shaped face framed by a wealth of dark hair and accented by large, round, innocently fascinating cobalt blue eyes. And her figure wasn't too bad either, currently displayed in a pair of black slacks and a white blouse that accented her trim waist.

In any other life, Miroku knew, he would have been pursuing Kagome all over the world for her beauty and charm. But there was just something about her that had caused him to actually want her as a friend, and not just a conquest. She was too good for him, and anyway, Sango was the one he had any interest for.

"I should think scandal would sell more magazines, not less," Kagome's voice broke through his thoughts. "That's what the public enjoys reading, after all; anything to make their own lives seem a little less boring and a little more important."

"When did you become such a cynic?"

She shrugged. "I haven't. I'm just stating a fact. And I can be as big a gossip as anybody if given the chance, so in all honesty I'm not passing judgment either."

Miroku smiled at his friend and moved away from the counter. "Well, I'd better be going. Things to do, after all."

He embraced her affectionately, though Kagome grabbed his hand before it could wander as she hugged him back. "Don't work too hard, Miroku."

"And don't be such a stranger," Sango called as she appeared once more. "You didn't come by at all last week."

Grinning rakishly, his violet eyes flashing possessively as he looked her up and down, Miroku took a step toward the brunette. "I didn't know you missed me that much, my dear Sango."

Instantly realizing her mistake, Sango backtracked and retreated safely behind the desk before Miroku could pull her into his arms. Every time he did that she forgot who she was and why exactly she refused to get involved with him. "I never said that," she replied defiantly, though her legs were trembling from the way he was looking at her.

He chuckled and turned to leave, the bell chiming again as he disappeared once more back onto the crowded streets of New York City.

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_"You want me to do what?"_

"I think it's rather simple, Inuyasha. All you have to do is..." Sesshoumaru fell silent and glared in disapproval as his no good half-brother slammed a copy of _Reality Check_ magazine onto his mahogany desk, rattling his numerous paperweights and leaving Natalie Portman to smile up at them both from a severely wrinkled front cover. The expensive (and expansive) office fell eerily quiet after that for several moments, in which time Sesshoumaru feigned laziness as he leaned back and folded his arms over his muscular chest while observing the man before him.

After a time he felt like speaking again. "Are you finished having your tantrum, little brother?"

Inuyasha winced at the word 'little' and actually allowed a growl to escape in response, not giving a damn who might hear and ask questions later. "Find some other fool to do this stupid project, Sesshoumaru, because I'm not doing it!"

"The fool I've chosen is you, Inuyasha, whether you like it or not."

"I'm not a columnist, damn it!" Inuyasha began to pace, gesturing rudely every so often in his brother's direction. "I'm a news reporter...a journalist with integrity. I don't just sit on my ass all day and wonder out loud about the problems of the world before writing it down in some cute little article that gets printed in the corner of some newspaper once a week."

Sesshoumaru quirked an eyebrow at that. "Need I remind you that _Reality Check_ is one of the most-read magazines in America, and not just some newspaper Inuyasha? And I would never publish your name alongside some cute little article anyway. No one would buy it...unless it was in a dog magazine You do have a certain canine appeal."

"Don't pull that smart-ass crap with me, Sesshoumaru."

"I'm merely stating a fact."

Inuyasha decided to let the obvious attack on his dog ears go for more pressing matters. "So why me?"

"Because you are on probation of sorts, and need to prove yourself to be responsible again before I'll let you back out to cover some of the more critical stories." Seeing that he wasn't getting his point across, Sesshoumaru pulled the ultimate trump card. "And considering what you did, Inuyasha, you're lucky I didn't just fire you weeks ago." His golden eyes narrowed. "You owe me."

At that Inuyasha froze and clenched his fists tight enough to draw blood, wincing at the reference to his mistake and knowing his brother was right (though he'd never admit to that out loud). Actually, simply calling it a mistake was the biggest understatement of the year. It had been a genuinely fucked up oversight on his part, albeit the first one he'd made since...

He shook his head. He didn't want to go there.

Never having been one to take anything lying down, Inuyasha still managed to glare even though his temper subsided a little. "I think you're enjoying this a little too much."

Sesshoumaru eyed him in an offhanded manner. "Oh, you mean the fact that I finally have something to keep your arrogant butt in line for more than a few days?" His smirk held no ounce of brotherly affection. "You bet your life I'm enjoying this."

"Yeah, well fuck you then!"

"No thanks, Inuyasha; I already have a wife." Glancing up, he added, "And you'd better leave her out of this."

Inuyasha felt the wind leave his sails as Sesshoumaru yet again read the next insult on the tip of his tongue. It was one of the downsides of having known each other for the last five hundred years...they knew each other a little too well. Or, at least, Sesshoumaru knew Inuyasha too well.

Inuyasha had decided his brother was an enigma he'd never quite figure out completely.

Keh. Not that he wanted to.

"So who am I supposed to be 'dating', anyway?" The question sounded ludicrous, especially to the overly sensitive ears of a man who'd sworn off serious relationships forever after a bad experience left him more than heartbroken...it had left him devastated.

Still, as Sesshoumaru had so tactfully reminded him, Inuyasha didn't have much of a choice. He was in the dog house (though his canine attributes were grateful that was only in the figurative sense) and would have to do some serious slave work before he was back on steady ground again.

"That is yet to be determined." Sesshoumaru became all business once more, his eyes clearing of their personal anger to be replaced by the steely glint that had pulled him to the top of the American media empire as manager of the hottest new magazine to sweep the states: _Reality Check_ magazine.

It was a unique idea he and his first wife had planned together almost sixty years ago when journalism was just beginning to earn its place in the world; a magazine that combined serious journalism on up-to-the-moment issues with the usual fanciful commentaries and columns that provided juicy gossip and scandal on celebrities. As a result the pool of readers was massive, and the magazine held a pristine reputation for honesty and integrity that drew some of the wealthiest citizens of the United States into its shadow.

Or at least it had...until Inuyasha successfully threw a large black spot on the magazine's perfect record, hence the reason he now stood before his brother with no way out except over the undesirable mountain that had been placed before him.

"So you want me to go out and find some chick, is that it?"

"Not exactly." Sesshoumaru pushed a button that caused a buzz on the other side of a pair of large double mahogany doors, and in another moment one of them opened to reveal Inuyasha's long-time friend Miroku strolling into the business giant's office as though he owned the world.

"You rang?" Miroku inquired casually, the only human Inuyasha knew who wasn't intimidated by his brother.

But before Sesshoumaru could respond Inuyasha beat him to it. "What are you doing here Miroku? Do you have something to do with this?" He cracked his knuckles in a less-than-subtle hint that if that were the case he would not be happy.

"I..."

"Miroku will be selecting your...lets call her a conquest...for you Inuyasha." Sesshoumaru leaned back once more in his high-backed black leather chair He's perfect for the job for two reasons: one, he has plenty of female friends to choose from, and two, he knows your character better than you do and will thus be equipped to choose the perfect woman for the assignment."

"What do you mean by the perfect woman, Sesshoumaru?" Inuyasha wanted to throw himself out the window. This job was getting worse all the time!

"I mean the woman who will actually resist your pathetic attempts at charm and make you work hard to gain her affection." He smirked, and this time there was genuine laughter in his eyes, though it was subtle. "I want you to be with a woman who isn't going to fall all over herself simply because you're a famous journalist and could give her a big break in the business."

"Keh!" Inuyasha folded his arms in a way that mirrored his brother before snorting indignantly. "There is no such woman! They all want easy fame and fortune deep down, and you know it."

Miroku blinked. "Well that's rather cynical of you, Inuyasha. I know plenty of nice women."

"And how would you know, Miroku? It's not like you're loaded with cash!"

"Gee, thanks, old friend." The dark-haired man rolled his eyes, though he'd known Inuyasha far too long to be offended any more by his curt remarks. Even if they did sting occasionally, they were never untrue.

Sesshoumaru continued as if neither of the men had spoken. "I have given Miroku two days to find you a woman to pursue, and then you devote all of your time to courting her, Inuyasha. Your first column will be due next Thursday to go into the magazine for Friday."

"Are you kidding me?"

"As you have pointed out several times, I have no sense of humor, little brother." He narrowed his eyes. "And the final requirement is that you will publish this column under a false name."

"What? So I don't even get credit for this?"

"Plus you will not mention the woman's name in the article either, for various reasons, not the least of them being legal repercussions if you openly violate her privacy."

Inuyasha felt like pouting for the first time in decades. He could hardly believe his rotten luck. Not only had his name and the name of his family's newspaper been forever smudged, but he would now have to write a stupid column about love and relationships (two things he wanted absolutely nothing to do with!)...and he wouldn't even get credit for it!

His life officially sucked...big time.

Training his harsh amber eyes (which had been fawned over by many women after he was named one of America's top fifty hottest bachelors) on Miroku, Inuyasha wondered how guilty he'd feel later if he strangled his best friend. Sighing, he decided it wasn't worth the energy, and instead narrowed his gaze dangerously. "You'd better pick someone who's at least tolerable."

Miroku threw his head back and laughed. "My friend, I don't think any woman would be tolerable to you since you drive them all crazy within a few days. Besides, the whole point of this assignment is to find someone who will make life miserable for you."

"Great, then I'll make it easy for you. Just find the first high-maintenance woman on the street. Better yet, just find any woman on the street. Women always drive me crazy."

Sesshoumaru, who had remained silent in his chair, took the opportunity to add his opinion. "As if I would make this easy for you, little brother. This is as much a punishment for you as it is a benefit for the magazine, and if Miroku simply chose one of those shallow women for the job, you would be able to write her off and do your job without any attachment." He narrowed his eyes and growled in warning when Inuyasha whirled around to add his opinion, noting the way his brother habitually went silent in response to let him finish. "I've instructed Miroku to find a woman who is intelligent and quick with her words, and also someone who won't let you get the better of her. Remember...this is supposed to be hard for you."

Inuyasha growled. "I really hate you right now."

"And that is old news, Inuyasha."

"Keh!"

"Indeed."

While the two brothers continued to glare, Miroku stood off to one side, his brain already flipping through the face of every woman he'd ever met long enough to become acquainted with (and he wasn't ashamed to admit that the list was surprisingly long). Unfortunately, most of them wouldn't last two days with Inuyasha's foul temper and cynicism, and while Sesshoumaru wanted everything to be challenging, since it would be a secret from the woman in question there would have to be at least enough attraction on both sides to keep the woman interested long enough to write the column.

But who could possibly keep up with Inuyasha?

One by one the women on his list were mentally scratched off. They were too delicate, too fragile, too shallow, too deep, too beautiful, not smart enough, not quick-witted enough...the list went on.

Something vibrated in his left pocket, and Miroku pulled out his cell phone while the brothers continued fighting in the background (or at least Inuyasha yelled while Sesshoumaru listened in stony silence). He couldn't answer it, but saw, with some surprise, that it was Kagome on the other end. She'd only ever called him on a Friday because of a mix-up with her order...so was something wrong?

Who knew? He'd have to call her back later and find out. Or maybe he could use it as an excuse to swing back by the little bookstore and see if Sango was still there.

But for now he simply tucked the phone back into his pocket once it stopped vibrating. He had other problems, like finding a poor, unsuspecting conquest for Inuyasha to court and then put into a weekly column for the whole nation to see.

And then, suddenly, as though struck by lightening Miroku felt his entire body go rigid and his brain freeze as visions of Kagome's long ebony hair and deep cobalt-blue eyes danced in his head. He recalled all of the fierce arguments the two of them had shared, and the way he had, on more than one occasion, told her she was like a female version of Inuyasha with her frightening temper.

That was it!

Kagome Higurashi was perfect!

Not only would she be able to keep pace with Inuyasha in wits and arguments, she was also interested in writing, so they would at least have something to talk about for the first few weeks. And besides all of that, Kagome was anything but shallow or narrow-minded and thus would not judge Inuyasha for _what_ he was, but rather, Miroku knew the woman would reserve judgement for _who_ he was.

Thrilled and proud of himself, Miroku burst out in congratulatory laughter, causing the brothers before him to stop what they were doing and turn to look at him, Inuyasha with a fierce glare while Sesshoumaru just looked bored.

"What the hell is so funny, Miroku?"

Ignoring his friend, Miroku instead looked at Sesshoumaru. "Sir, I think I have the perfect candidate for Inuyasha's assignment."

The demon arched an eyebrow slightly. "So quickly?"

"Believe me, she's perfect."

"Very well. In the area of women I would certainly place more trust in you than most." It wasn't meant to be a condescending remark, so Miroku took no offense to the statement on his personal life.

"Now hold on a damn minute! Don't I get a say in any of this?" Inuyasha railed. "Don't I get to at least meet the woman before we decide?"

Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes. "No. And if you want your old career back when this is over, then I suggest you stop arguing with me, Inuyasha."

"You really are a bastard."

"As are you. And you will meet this woman tomorrow. I expect your first column on my desk next Thursday." And with that Sesshoumaru dismissed both men before him without even so much as a glace as he turned his chair around to face out the windows overlooking New York City.

With a growl and a string of curses, Inuyasha spun on his heel and stormed out while Miroku didn't even try to keep up behind him. He already had other things on his mind as he pulled out his cell phone while also stepping into his own small office space where he would have some privacy. Hitting the redial button, he sat down in his chair and leaned back while he waited for an answer.

"Higurashi Book Store, Kagome speaking, and how may I help you?" a female's voice chimed on the other end.

Miroku grinned. "Kagome, it's me."

"Miroku!" Her voice immediately took on a hostile tone. "For your information, half the magazines in that box got wet and were ruined! You'd better be back with more, free of charge, by the end of the day, do you hear me?"

"Sure." He didn't care about magazines at that moment. He already had visions of Inuyasha and Kagome together dancing around in his brain.

"Are you even listening to me? You sound distracted."

Perceptive as always, he thought with a smirk. Inuyasha didn't stand a chance. This woman would be able to read him like an open book within a week. "I'm fine...but I have a surprise for you."

"Oh?" Curious by nature, Kagome's voice held a certain twist of sudden excitement.

"How would you like to meet the man you said earlier today is one of the greatest reporters in the world today?"

There was a long pause on the other end, and Miroku heard Kagome helping some new customer in the direction of the travel section, but then she was back on the phone the moment they'd gone. "Are you serious?" She hissed in excitement. "Inuyasha? Here? Tomorrow?"

Miroku laughed. "Yeah...well due to current events he's a little free on time and I thought I'd bring him by at some point."

"That would be so cool, Miroku! I would love you forever!"

"Could you by any chance channel that grateful energy in Sango's direction?"

Kagome's beautiful laughter floated through the receiver. "Miroku, you know she's crazy about you. She's just stubborn."

"And I'm not exactly patient, Kagome."

"We'll keep working on it, I promise."

"I'll hold you to that."

She laughed again. "Well I'd better get back to work. Two more shipments still have to arrive today, and the store is filling up."

"Alright. I'll try and come by later today with new magazines."

"Thanks, Miroku. Sorry for biting your head off. It's just been one of those days."

He grinned, though she couldn't see it, his eyes softening affectionately. "Kagome, you're always biting my head off. Around you I figure I'm learning what it would have been like to have a nagging younger sister."

"I don't nag."

"I'll talk to you later."

She sighed. "Fine. Bye, Miroku." And with a final click, she was gone and he was once more in his office alone, his brain going crazy making plans for his best friend to meet one of the most important women in his life. He probably should have felt guilty about what he was about to do to Kagome...but he didn't. Frankly, the one he felt guilty for was Inuyasha.

Miroku laughed heartily.

He'd asked himself earlier what woman on earth could possibly keep up with Inuyasha...but now he was realizing the real question was probably going to be: how on earth could Inuyasha possibly keep up with Kagome?

It would certainly be fun finding the answer.


	2. Chapter Two

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**

Hello, everyone! Thanks so much for your fantastic response to the first chapter! I really appreciate everyone's comments! I know it was a little confusing because I didn't really provide an introduction like I did with "The King's Mistress" about what was going on, but that's really because I didn't want to give too much away. Though this is going to be primarily another romance of mine, there's also a bit of mystery and suspense, so I can't give too much away.

But now that you've all presented me with a few questions, I've tried to answer them as best as I can below. Also, this chapter is filled with tons and tons of background information as well for the characters to kind of start setting the stage for the story to really get rolling. So watch for that. And you'll notice a few things are slightly different. But I promise the pieces of the puzzle will fall into place when they need to, so don't be too confused!

Thanks for all of your wonderful support, everyone! I hope to update this several more times before the start of the school year. Blessings!

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**F.A.Q.**

_Why did you choose to place the story in New York City and not Tokyo? Should the characters thus be viewed as American as opposed to Japanese?_

There is a very specific reason I chose to set the story in the United States rather than Japan. Some of that will be explained in this chapter, but I'll also state that I needed Kagome and her family to live _far away_ from Inuyasha in order for this to work. And that's all I dare say on that part of the question without giving too much away. And as for the other part, Kagome should be viewed as a born and bred American in many ways with Japanese roots, while Inuyasha...well...you can make up your mind about him. And the other supporting characters will be primarily American personalities as well.

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Title: Strictly Off the Record 

Author: dolphingirl0113

Chapter II

Rating: PG-13 (for language and at times implied sexual situations)

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

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"Hey Sango, what time is it?" Kagome called from the small storage room located in the back of the bookstore. She heard her friend move around in the main part of the store, trying to get a good view of the clock, before she replied. 

"It's about 10:30. You've got plenty of time."

"Only if Miroku is late as usual," Kagome called back with a laugh before making the final adjustments to her ornate costume. It was Saturday morning, and like most places in New York City, the Higurashi Bookstore didn't open until noon since most tourists weren't out in droves until later. But the tradeoff was it remained open until midnight.

As Kagome liked to put it, the statement that New York was the city that never slept was false; people did sleep...just not when the rest of the world did. Or, at least, that was true of the tourists and anyone, like herself, who ran a store on Fifth Avenue.

Stepping out into the main area, noting how dark it was with the curtains drawn over the windows so that the only light provided was by the antique lamps atop the bookshelves, Kagome took in the familiar scent of paper as she inhaled long and slow. It was a smell that had become like home to her; and surrounded by her precious books in a bookstore all her own never failed to inject an unending source of pride and joy through her veins.

"Wow," Sango commented from where she was wiping down the front counter. "That is an impressive piece you're wearing, Kagome."

Blushing and glancing down at the ancient uniform of a Japanese holy priestess that had been presented to her only two years earlier by her family, Kagome tried her best not to shy away. "It's kind of overkill, in my opinion, but mama insisted I had to take a picture in the new store so she can put it up in the shrine."

Sango chuckled and put down the rag she'd been using to instead grab a high-tech digital camera currently protected in a black leather case. "I don't recall you getting all dressed up at the two other locations the store's had."

"The other two locations weren't on Fifth Avenue, Sango. You can't deny what a big deal it is. I mean, I've been in this location now for four months and I still can't believe it sometimes myself."

"Well it certainly hasn't hurt your business any," the brunette admitted as she carefully pulled the camera from its case and examined it for any possible damage. As someone who loved recreational photography, the camera was Sango's pride and joy, and she treated it as delicately and kindly as she would a living person.

"That's the truth," Kagome chuckled and looked around. She'd certainly come a long way from the tiny little one-room space that had first housed her books over three years ago. And with each successive move, her customer count had increased so that now she could barely keep up with the demand. It was an absolute dream come true.

"Okay, so where do you want to be for this picture?" Sango finally asked. "Do you want to chance going outside?"

"Oh heavens no! I don't even want to think about all the curious stares I'd get for going out in this." Kagome indicated her costume again.

"Then where?"

"Um...how about we open the front windows and I can pose by the counter."

"Sounds good to me."

With a nod Kagome moved into position by the desk, Sango helping her to stand in a way such that none of the clunky technology on the counter was visible. But just before they took the picture, Kagome remembered her bow and arrows, and was forced to leave Sango marking her position while she dashed into the back room to retrieve the sacred artifacts.

They remained exactly where she'd left them when she'd arrived that morning, the soft wood of the bow familiar in her hands and bringing her a sense of peace as she ran the tips of her fingers over the bowstring to make sure it was good and taut and not about to come loose. Satisfied that all was still well, Kagome then took a moment to inspect the quiver full of arrows, assuring herself that all the tips were secure on the shafts.

It was ridiculous, really, to be doing such a thing since all she'd be doing was posing for a picture, but Kagome found that old habits didn't leave easily, and just as she'd been trained as a child, she carefully made sure that her weapons of choice would be ready should the need arise.

And then as the thought sunk in Kagome couldn't resist a laugh. Her weapons of choice? Should the need arise?

"You're in the middle of New York City, Kagome," she grumbled to herself as she awkwardly rose to her feet and slung the quiver over her back, the bow in her left hand. "Who are you expecting to shoot? A robber?" She laughed again as she pictured trying to explain to the NYPD why their criminal had simply vanished into thin air, her imaginary self going so far as to even detail the properties and uses of a sacred arrow.

This time Sango's eyes widened considerably as Kagome appeared once more. "Are you expecting a battle?"

Kagome just rolled her eyes. "Haven't I worn this for you before?"

"Actually you haven't. I mean, I knew you grew up in a shrine, but still...I didn't know you and your family were this hardcore about it."

"So what if we are?" Kagome became slightly snappish. "My grandfather brought all the old ways with him from Japan when he immigrated here with my grandmother, even going so far as to build an exact replica of the shrine he'd lived in as a boy." Kagome smiled softly as she thought about the Higurashi Shrine that was located in the lush countryside of the state of New York.

Initially her grandfather had meant to become a farmer, and building the shrine had taken him almost twenty years to complete anyway. But when it had become a small haven for tourists who wanted a taste of Japanese culture without having to buy the expensive plane ticket, he'd realized he could easily go back to living the way he always had before he'd immigrated, and so now the shrine was an official tourist stop, supported by the government, and the money the Higurashi family kept was plenty to keep them happy.

Before she'd left for college, Kagome had worked at the shrine alongside her grandfather, training in the old ways of a holy woman in everything from ancient healing methods to wielding the sacred arrows of a priestess. It hadn't been practical, by any means, but Kagome had found she enjoyed it, so while her younger brother Souta had disappointed her grandfather by showing no interest in his roots whatsoever, Kagome had more than made up for it.

Now the money she made as a bookseller partially went back to the shrine since she was no longer there to help run it, and in turn her family helped her pay the bills acquired from living in an expensive city like New York.

"Well are you ready?" Sango finally asked.

"Yeah."

"Alright, just stand here. Good." Sango aimed her camera and took a few pictures, then acquired a thoughtful expression. "So do you know how to aim those things?" She indicated the quiver of arrows.

"Of course I do. Why?"

"Maybe you could pose with a bow and arrow then. It would be a fun shot, I think. I mean, we may as well go all out, right?"

Kagome shrugged, trying not to think about all the people who might be staring through the now-exposed windows. She hated being so self-conscious, but for some reason the pride she took in her roots at home seemed silly when in the big city surrounded by modern conveniences and worldly men and women who had probably traveled the world more than she ever would.

Taking an arrow from her quiver and running her fingers over the feathers at the end of the shaft momentarily, Kagome quickly and expertly notched it into her bow and pulled the string taut, hearing the wood of the bow groan slightly under the sudden tension. Carefully she aimed for a spot just above the second floor that was free of bookshelves or pictures, so that if she was startled and accidentally released the arrow she could be assured she wouldn't hit anything valuable.

It had been years since she'd actually held the bow at the ready, and Kagome could feel it in the burning of her arms as she struggled valiantly to hold her position. She needed to start hitting the weights again. "Take the picture, Sango," she managed to hiss urgently as she felt her fingers begin to tremble.

Yup, definitely would be making an appointment with a personal trainer later that day.

A few clicks of the camera later Kagome gratefully lowered the bow and released the tension in the bowstring, her arms suddenly feeling like flimsy rubber as they hung off her body.

Glancing at the preview screen on her camera, Sango grinned proudly. "Those are some real beauties. I think we should keep one or two here to put up at the counter. It could be fun, you know?"

Taking a few deep breaths, Kagome felt her heart rate returning to normal as the burning in her arms also worked its way out of her system. "Kind of random to have in a bookstore, don't you think?"

"Not really. I mean, it's a bookstore. Anything goes in here, right? After all, you sell nothing but stories people have taken out of pure fiction."

Kagome chuckled. "I sell non-fiction too, you know."

Sango smiled and then looked at the bow now resting against Kagome's thigh. She indicated it with a nod of her head. "Can I see that thing?"

"Sure. But be careful; it's kind of an antique."

"Really? How old?"

"I think grandpa said it was something like forty or fifty years old. I can't remember for sure. It belonged to a great aunt of mine who was also trained as a priestess...though she had more use for such training since she actually lived in Japan."

Sango fingered the polished wood reverently, in awe of something that had no doubt seen many things it would never speak of. "So what happened to this great aunt of yours then? Did she move to America with your grandfather and grandmother and just have no need of it any more?"

"No, she wasn't actually related to grandpa. She was the older sister of my grandmother, and grandpa admits that he never actually met her. She stayed in Japan while grandma eventually moved to America to marry grandpa. Kind of a sad story, really."

"How so?"

Kagome took the bow back gently as she continued speaking, absently running her thumbs over the tip. "Well, grandma's sister was apparently in love with some man who didn't want to leave Japan or something like that, so she stayed with him instead of going with her family. That was at the end of World War II, when Japan fell on hard times." Kagome shrugged. "I can't really remember all the details, but somewhere along the way my great aunt got involved with some dangerous men...though I don't know if that was intentional or by accident. Either way she was killed; her few possessions were sent to my grandmother, who was utterly devastated by the news. They say grandma was never quite the same again."

Sango looked at Kagome for several minutes in silence before speaking. "Wow. That's quite a story."

"Yeah...but it always manages to ruin a perfectly good day. I'm sorry for turning all morbid and depressing."

The brunette just chuckled and waved her hand to cast the comment away. "Please, I asked, so it's hardly your fault. Besides, I find it all fascinating. We definitely need to talk more about it sometime."

The grandfather clock on the upper floor chimed eleven times, and Kagome jolted back to reality as she realized how late it already was. Miroku and his friend, the famous Inuyasha Yamamoto, would be arriving any minute! And she would not greet a celebrity dressed in an antique priestess uniform.

"I've got to go change, Sango," she spoke in a rush as she collected her quiver and bow. "Watch for them until I get back, okay?"

"Sure."

But just as Kagome started to move towards the back room again, the sound of the door opening could be heard, followed by Miroku's voice. "Sango! I didn't know you would be here! And Kagome, where are you off to in such a hurry?"

Not wanting to seem rude, especially knowing that Inuyasha Yamamoto was probably already there and watching her every move, Kagome decided she may as well just face the music. Shouldering her bow and making sure the quiver was tight on her back, she turned with a fierce blush on her cheeks, knowing she must look like she was getting ready to go to a ridiculous costume party.

A fine way to impress a famous reporter, indeed!

Taking a few steps forward, she gave Miroku a bright smile. "You're actually on time today!"

"Should I be offended by that?"

"Maybe." Kagome glanced over his shoulder, but noted that Miroku appeared to be alone. "Did your friend decide not to come after all?"

"What?" Miroku also glanced over his shoulder. "No...he's here. I don't know why he didn't come in, actually. He was right behind me a second ago." Turning around, Miroku went back out the door and immediately spotted Inuyasha rooted to a spot on the sidewalk in front of the windows of the bookstore where he had a perfect view inside.

It couldn't be. It just couldn't be. And yet...the woman who had been standing in the store, dressed in those robes that were so familiar to him...

"Inuyasha, what on earth are you doing out here?" Miroku interrupted his thoughts, causing the hanyou to blink and come back to reality. "Are you still trying to get out of this assignment? You know that's not an option at this point, so you may as well suck it up and come in with me."

"Right..." Inuyasha felt like he was walking through a fog as he allowed Miroku to open the door and gesture for him to step into the store. And then he saw her again, and it was as though time had stopped, sending him back over fifty years.

His heart ached as he saw a young woman freeze and stare at him with just as much fascination as he was showing her. But he was not seeing her. He was seeing a woman with a painfully similar face, her scent that of sakura blossoms, her warm, chocolate brown eyes always clouded with a slight shadow of pain and regret. How he had always tried to wipe that pain from her eyes!

The woman moved, taking a few steps toward him, her hips swaying subtly while the arrows in her quiver shifted and made soft noises of impact, and the modern bookstore faded around him so that Inuyasha was instead standing in a familiar forest he had not seen in over fifty years, a stunning priestess walking towards him with a kind smile on her face.

"Kikyou?" He whispered aloud, hardly daring to believe what his eyes were seeing.

She blinked in confusion, and then a new voice, an unfamiliar voice, shattered the dream. "What did you just call me?"

Inuyasha blinked and stepped back several feet so that he nearly ran into the door. How could he have been so stupid? Kikyou was dead! The woman before him had a face that was slightly rounder, and her eyes were a cobalt blue, not brown. Her hair was much shorter, thicker, fuller, and her scent was not that of sakura blossoms, but rather that of vanilla laced with some kind of foreign spice.

She blinked again and moved closer. "Are you alright?"

Embarrassed by his behavior, Inuyasha immediately straightened his spine and haughtily raised his chin into the air. "Keh, of course I'm alright, woman! Why would you ask such a stupid question?"

Kagome blinked a few more times as her brain tried to process everything that had just happened. First the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen had walked into her store and totally mesmerized her, and then he'd called her by the name of her great aunt and subsequently retreated as though he'd seen a ghost, and now he was insulting her. She could hardly keep up!

But once she did figure it all out, her own temper kicked in. "It's hardly a stupid question when you're staring at me and everything around you like you're expecting a ghost to stop by at any moment," she snapped. "And while we're at it, would you care to explain why you called me Kikyou?"

He growled at her. "That's hardly your business."

"It's definitely my business when strangers start mistaking me for an aunt who's been dead for a long time."

"Your aunt...?" Inuyasha took another, closer look at the woman before him, and it all started to make sense. Why she looked like Kikyou, but didn't either. She must be one of the descendents of Kaede, Kikyou's younger sister. In all honesty, Inuyasha had completely forgotten they had all immigrated to America all those years ago.

"Yes my aunt! And you're staring at me strangely again! Don't do that!"

"Will you stop yelling, wench? What did I ever do to you?"

"You successfully freaked me out, that's what you did. And you so did not just call me a wench, baka!"

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes. "I'll call you whatever I want, woman, especially when you're yelling so loud!"

"I'm hardly yelling at all, you super-sensitive jerk."

Resisting the urge to growl more ferociously, Inuyasha had to remind himself that he was wearing his concealing charm, meaning she couldn't see his hanyou ears and understand why it didn't take much to have the world seem like it was yelling at him. Instead, all he did was grunt and march around her to where Miroku was casually flirting with a brunette.

"So Miroku, where the hell is this woman you said owns the bookstore? Is this her?" He indicated Sango, who glared back at him for his curt tone.

"My name is Sango Obayashi, Mr. Yamamoto, and no, I am not the owner of the bookstore."

"You're not?" Suddenly Inuyasha had a growing sense of trepidation in the pit of his stomach.

Miroku coughed nervously and tried to lighten the mood with a little laughter. It didn't work, and in the end he apparently gave up as he instead placed his hands on Inuyasha's shoulders and turned him around to look once more at the woman dressed in the priestess robes. "Inuyasha, I'd like you to meet my very good friend Kagome Higurashi. Kagome...this is Inuyasha Yamamoto, the, uh, world famous reporter you said you admired so much."

The hanyou actually had to resist the urge to gulp in fear as the woman called Kagome continued to glare fiercely in his direction. She narrowed her eyes. "Obviously the respect was a little premature." And with that she swept past both men and disappeared into the back room to change out of her ceremonial uniform.

"Oh dear," Miroku sighed.

"Oh hell no!" Inuyasha exclaimed at the same time. "Screw Sesshoumaru...I'm out of here."

Miroku grabbed his arm to stop him. "I don't think that would be wise, Inuyasha. You know what happens if you don't do this." He was trying to be as cryptic as possible with Sango behind him, but he could already feel her eyes boring into his back.

"Keh, if you think I'm going to..." But he trailed off as Kagome reappeared, having changed into a pair of jeans and a knee-length white turtleneck sweater. She'd removed the ribbon from her hair and was now moving a brush through the thick ebony curls she had pulled over one shoulder. In those modern clothes the differences between her and Kikyou were even more apparent, and Inuyasha wondered again how he could have been so stupid as to react the way he had initially.

Glancing up, her dark eyes meeting his, she frowned. "You're still here?"

"Keh!" He glared back, not willing to be intimidated by a woman.

"So Inuyasha," Miroku exclaimed in a falsely cheerful voice, "I was telling Kagome yesterday on the phone how you were hoping to take her out to lunch and talk about the art of writing, seeing how you're both interested in the craft. Do you remember?"

Sighing and praying for patience, Inuyasha continued to glare at the woman as he replied to Miroku's question. "Maybe."

"Excellent!" Miroku nudged his friend in the side to get him to continue.

"Miroku tells me you hope to become a novelist some day," Inuyasha tried again.

Staring back at him warily, Kagome nodded. "That's right, though I don't know why you'd want to talk to me. Your kind of writing is entirely different from what I'd like to do."

The hanyou shrugged. "Writing is writing, woman. And besides, I've learned how to interact with the best in the world. I could show you the ropes. I'm an expert."

Kagome raised an eyebrow haughtily in response to his arrogant tone, an image of an ape beating his chest coming to mind. "And I suppose this expertise is what landed you on the third page of the New York Times a few days ago?"

Never having met a woman who didn't fall for his arrogant, I-own-the-world attitude before, Inuyasha was momentarily stunned into silence. Obviously he'd have to pull out all the stops from the start with this one.

Forcing a smile and giving her one of his infamously sexy, smoldering looks, he took a step forward. "You shouldn't believe everything printed in newspapers, Ms. Higurashi."

She seemed unfazed by his looks. "I don't, Mr. Yamamoto. But you obviously did something seriously wrong to wind up in court and in the newspaper."

"Will you at least let me explain my side of the story?"

"I'm usually a fair woman."

"Good. Let's do lunch at the little deli two blocks over."

Kagome blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I said, let's do lunch at..."

"I heard what you said," she interrupted haughtily, her eyes flaming with indignant fury. "But I don't believe I ever agreed to have lunch with you because you never asked."

"I never...?" What the hell was her problem? Most women would kill to spend an afternoon exclusively with him! He sent a glare in Miroku's direction to show how angry he was at the fact that his friend had managed to pick the one woman who was apparently a spinster in a woman's body and couldn't read his signals worth a damn. "Fine, wench. Will you have lunch with me?"

She narrowed her eyes again and walked up until she was standing a few inches from his body, her face tilted up so she could meet his gaze steadily. "No." And then she was walking around him and out the door, leaving Inuyasha so stunned he could do nothing more than gape as the door crashed behind her.

Miroku just sighed again and put his head in his hands. "Oh dear."

"You arrogant, pig-headed jerk!" Sango exclaimed from where she was standing behind the counter. Stomping around, she gave Inuyasha a powerful whack to his shoulder before proceeding to follow Kagome out the door in hopes of calming her down.

Once both women were gone Inuyasha suddenly found his speech again, and he whirled on Miroku. "That's the perfect woman for this job? Are you kidding me?"

"It wasn't supposed to be easy for you, my friend." Why did Miroku feel like he was saying that a lot lately?

"Easy? Hell, she's not even going to be difficult...she's going to be impossible! Did you hear her?" Inuyasha raised his voice into a high-pitched squeal and clasped his hands. "You didn't _ask_ me to go to lunch!" He glowered and lowered his voice once more. "What a bunch of bullshit."

Miroku massaged his temples in exasperation. "You weren't exactly easy, Inuyasha. In fact, I think you were worse than usual...once you got over that weird introduction. What was up with that anyway?"

The hanyou's amber eyes softened and acquired a far-off look. "When I first saw her dressed in that outfit, I could have sworn I was looking at Kikyou."

"Really?"

"Yeah." He grimaced and frowned once more. "But then she opened that sassy mouth of hers, and I knew she was nothing like Kikyou."

"You're not exactly one to talk about sassy mouths, Inuyasha. You're worse than she is."

"Keh! Could have fooled me!"

Miroku shrugged. "You just caught her on a bad day. Or you put her in a bad mood. Or something. Somehow I suspect it's your fault."

"Keh!"

Miroku paused thoughtfully. "By the way, what did she mean about you calling her by her aunt's name? That would certainly be a coincidence that she has a relative named Kikyou."

"It's no coincidence," Inuyasha murmured. "Or, at least, I don't think it is. Kikyou had a younger sister, Kaede, who immigrated to the United States at the age of sixteen and married a young man with the last name of Higurashi. That was about the time Kikyou..." He swallowed hard. "Well, suffice it to say I wasn't really thinking about distant relatives at that point."

"Wow." Miroku released a long whistle of appreciation. "Makes you almost believe in fate, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, well if fate has a hand in this than I want no part of it." He turned his glare on Miroku. "And I want no part of her. I refuse to run around on some pretend courtship with a woman who is probably something along the lines of Kikyou's grand-niece. That's just weird." He choked on his words. "And cruel."

Seeing his friend in true distress for once, Miroku took a step forward and placed a heavy hand on Inuyasha's shoulder. "Come on, Inuyasha, just give it a try. I think you'd really like Kagome if you gave her a chance."

The hanyou grunted and turned away. "I don't want to give her a chance, Miroku. I don't want anything to do with that family. Hell, I don't want anything to do with women."

"Now that's something I'll never understand. Women are wonderful."

"Says the man who wasn't forced to watch the woman he thought to be his true mate murdered before his very eyes." Inuyasha closed his eyes tightly to block out the sound of her screams and the sight of her brown eyes going wide in shock as she realized the amulet he'd offered would not protect her as he'd promised it would.

_"Inuyasha?" She looked at him in innocent confusion, her expression tearing at his insides._

_"Kikyou!" All he could do was scream in agony as he watched her fall to her knees, blood staining her white blouse, her beautiful brown eyes going dim as the life slowly left her body through the gaping bullet wounds in her chest and abdomen. "KIKYOU!"_

"Inuyasha? Hey...are you alright?"

"Kikyou..." The hanyou shook his head and focused on Miroku's intense violet eyes, struggling to bring his mind back into the present. The pain in his eyes floored his friend. "It's been fifty years, Miroku. And I still can't get her screams out of my head."

"Her death wasn't your fault, you know."

Inuyasha shook his head. "Yes it was. I swore to her that amulet would protect her. Because of that, she wasn't as prepared to defend herself." He hung his head shamefully. "If it weren't for me, she'd still be alive now."

"Perhaps." Miroku leaned heavily against the ornate front counter. "Perhaps not. Remember, Inuyasha, that Kikyou was involved with some very dangerous people. It might have only been a matter of time before she was finally killed."

"Maybe..." But Inuyasha still hated the idea that Kikyou had died feeling betrayed. That was his doing entirely.

Glancing over at some of the pictures on the counter, he saw Kagome Higurashi smiling back at him with what he assumed to be her family, and Inuyasha felt something in his gut clench. He had allowed Kikyou to die due to his own folly...and now Miroku was asking him to lie to one of her descendants, a woman with Kikyou's open, honest face and kind smile.

Was his journalism career really worth the pain all this would pull out of the distant corners of his heart that were better left alone?

But then he thought about the way Kagome had spoken to him, how rude she'd been, and Inuyasha felt a little of his usual arrogant spark return. To hell with her. She wasn't Kikyou, and he owed her nothing. She was just a means to an end.

And he would keep telling himself that every time he saw Kikyou's face in his mind with a disapproving scowl marring her otherwise perfect features.


	3. Chapter Three

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**

I love the response to this story! Thank you all so much for your encouraging comments! Right now the inspiration is flowing like crazy, so I'm trying to get the chapters posted as soon as I finish writing/editing them, since I know eventually I'll hit that wall that every author hits with every story they write.

Things will continue to be revealed as the chapters continue, and more action will be coming in the future as Kagome begins to unravel the mystery that is behind Inuyasha's sudden "interest" in her. Remember, this is not meant to simply be a romance, so while right now it's more a romantic comedy, it will become much more serious in the future. Stay tuned for that! Blessings, everyone!

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Title: Strictly Off the Record

Author: dolphingirl0113

Chapter III

Rating: PG-13 (for language and at times implied sexual situations)

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

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"Damn! Damn! Damn!" Inuyasha glared at his cell phone as he walked down the street, drawing several curious onlookers as he passed, though he didn't even spare them a flick of his ears. "Damn her!" _Her_, of course, being Kagome, who had just hung up on him for the fourth time that day.

In the five hundred plus years he'd been alive, Inuyasha didn't recall ever meeting a woman before who gave him as much trouble as Kagome Higurashi. What the hell was her problem anyway? Most women would give anything to spend time with him, and in those cases they usually had to fight tooth and nail simply to get his autograph. He was offering hours of his time to Kagome free of charge, and the woman simply refused time and again to even consider it!

Why had he ever thought she was even remotely similar to Kikyou? The two women couldn't be any more different! Where Kikyou had been calm, poised, and filled with inner grace, Kagome was wild, obnoxious, and loved to pick a fight every time he opened his mouth.

"Damn American women," he grumbled, never having quite adjusted to the forward-thinking mentality of the United States and its people. He'd lived in Japan for the better part of five hundred years, accustomed to women who were generally quiet and reserved (at least in formal situations). Thus when Sesshoumaru had suggested a move to the United States just after Kikyou's death Inuyasha had been shocked. Frankly the first time he'd stumbled across a couple making out on a park bench he nearly fainted in scandalized shock.

It wasn't that Japanese women were stupid or meager in their emotions, or weak-minded and desperate for a man to lead their lives...they simply took on a much more passive role in society. That didn't mean that behind closed doors with friends they wouldn't be verbal or passionate, but everything was always much more calculated and based on honor and prestige, and so people (especially women) had to be careful about what they said when and to whom.

America couldn't have been more different.

Inuyasha had lived through the riots and marches of the 1960s and 1970s, when young men and women had rebelled against their government in any way they could, and he would never forget it. He'd been able to sympathize with the Civil Rights movement of the African American population because he recalled similar persecution in Japan as a hanyou before he'd finally been granted a concealment charm to hide what he was from the world. He'd felt the tug of the American families who lost loved ones in the Vietnam War because his own father had died in a great battle long ago that Inuyasha would always view as meaningless no matter how many times Sesshoumaru spouted the values of honor. And he'd watched, fascinated, as the youth of the country had broken through all the social barriers and restrictions of their parents with the national marketing of such things as "the pill" and the arrival of The Beatles and the birth of rock music.

He'd seen it all. And it was because of his move to the United States that Inuyasha had discovered his love of journalism.

Watching history unfold before his very eyes and then being horrified by the way it was so inadequately recorded in books, the hanyou had decided to do his best to report what he considered "true history" as it happened, and when Sesshoumaru began his magazine, then simply named _Truth_, Inuyasha had been one of its key reporters, quickly making a name for himself (or, at least, fake names for himself since it wouldn't do for the world to realize the same man had been reporting for over sixty years without aging a single day physically).

He loved it; became addicted to the rush that accompanied uncovering a huge scandal, or the thrill of the hunt for breaking news. He'd always been a no-nonsense personality, even as a pup, so it had been no trouble at all for Inuyasha to slip into the annoying, pestering persona of a hard-hitting reporter. Frankly, sometimes the hanyou felt like he'd lived so long simply to prepare himself for the life of a journalist.

Through the decades his name had changed, sometimes his last, sometimes his first, and he'd also adjusted his concealing charm to change his outward appearance as well, sometimes having black hair, others silver, sometimes violet eyes, other times amber. Sesshoumaru had become highly skilled at forging birth certificates, and between the two of them they'd managed to create an entirely false family genealogy dating all the way back to the Feudal Era in Japan so that whenever their competition did background checks there could be no questions or prying into their personal lives beyond what was absolutely necessary.

And all of their hard, tedious work paid off.

To keep up with the changing of the world, _Truth_ was changed to _Reality Check_ so that it wouldn't lose its appeal to the younger generations, and from the outside it looked like a family business that had been passed down from father to son since the 1950s...but beneath the facade remained the constant that was Sesshoumaru's incredible management skills and Inuyasha's stunning, daring reports. A winning combination, to be sure, since the magazine always broke the top stories first and was renowned for its ability to convey the truth.

Mostly.

Inuyasha grunted as he continued walking down the street, firmly headed in the direction of Fifth Avenue and a particular book shop, having elected not to take the subway so he could burn off a little more steam before he confronted the confounding Kagome Higurashi in person.

Somehow, somewhere along the way, Inuyasha had begun to project his frustration and anger (that had once been directed at himself) towards Kagome, as though she were the one who had been responsible for failing to double-check his facts before his story had been published. So now, each time he saw her, he remembered exactly why he was being forced to run after her like a lovesick, obsessed man, and he hated her for it.

It might not have been fair, but it was how Inuyasha's mind worked, and after over five hundred years, he wasn't going to be changing any time soon.

His phone vibrated in his hand, and Inuyasha automatically answered it, the customized headpiece for his dog ears clicking to say he'd successfully connected. "Hello?"

"Inuyasha! Are you on your way?"

"Yes, Miroku."

"Good...Sango and I are working on her as much as we can. Hopefully you'll at least get lunch out of her this time."

The hanyou sighed loudly and looked up at the New York skyscrapers attempting to touch the clouds, the hundreds of windows brightly reflecting the sun of the spring afternoon. "I really wish I didn't have to care."

"I really think you'll like her better if you just give her a chance."

"Keh, not likely. The woman is insufferable."

"So are you."

"Keh!"

"Either way, I don't think Sesshoumaru will accept another column like last week's, so Sango and I are your only hope right now of overcoming a horrendous first impression." He heard Miroku sigh. "Somehow the two of you just got off on the wrong foot, and it is not just her fault, Inuyasha."

"Whatever." The hanyou knew that was true, but he would never admit it aloud. After all, he probably would have been just a little freaked out if someone had mistakenly called him by the name of a long-dead relative too. Still, that didn't mean Kagome had to hold on to that first meeting the way she was. Her stubborn refusal to have anything to do with him had meant his first column had been 1,500 words of pure, sentimental crap as he discussed the nature of love in a modern world (for lack of anything better to say since his supposed love interest was _not_ cooperating).

Inuyasha shuddered again as he recalled the way he'd typed away on his laptop in his small New York flat over the pizza parlor, comparisons to Carrie Bradshaw from _Sex and the City _coming to mind just a little too often for his male brain to handle comfortably. It had gotten to the point where if he turned on the television and heard anything even remotely similar to the show's opening song he swore and flipped the channel immediately.

Yet another problem, he was sure, that was Kagome's fault. After all, if she'd just accepted his invitations sooner none of it would be an issue. Right?

"Are you still there?"

"Yeah...and I'll be at the store in like five minutes, so you and that woman had better do your job. I'm really not in the mood for another tongue-lashing."

"I know. Sango and I heard the last one just before she hung up on you. That didn't sound too pretty."

The hanyou growled. "Believe me, it wasn't."

"I don't think I've actually ever heard a woman call you an imbecile before."

"Just talk to her, Miroku!" And this time it was Inuyasha's turn to hang up.

8

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8

Letting out a long-suffering sigh, Kagome crossed her arms and rolled her eyes toward the heavens as she listened to Sango tell her yet again why it would be a good idea for her to go out with Inuyasha Yamamoto. Any more the brunette was not telling Kagome anything new...in fact, she could practically recite the entire list from memory at that point.

"Sango, please just let it go," Kagome finally interrupted as her friend started on approximately number fifteen of her list of reasons.

"I will if you'll just give me a good reason why you keep saying no."

"Because he's an arrogant, pompous jerk!"

"Maybe you're just not giving him a chance," Sango pressed. "I mean you've only really seen him in person once, and while I'll admit that didn't exactly go well, it was hardly enough for you to pass judgment on his personality."

Kagome glanced over at Miroku, who was talking to someone quietly on his cell phone, before looking back at Sango's pleading eyes. "Why on earth are the two of you so desperate to have me go out with the guy anyway?"

"Well, Miroku wants the two of you to go out because he says Inuyasha has been absolutely devastated by what's happened to his career and needs a change of pace, and I want you go to out, Kagome, because you haven't allowed yourself to go on a date in years."

Narrowing her eyes slightly before sighing again in exasperation, Kagome watched as Miroku hung up his phone and walked back over to join them by the counter. "Just how devastated is he?" Damn her stupid, sympathetic personality! And damn Sango for knowing she could never resist the need to help others!

Catching on quickly, Miroku chimed in. "He's absolutely crushed. The man has never been more depressed, Kagome. You have to understand that all of this wasn't his fault...well, it sort of was, but even so, he's still in a lot of pain right now."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're really laying it on thick here, aren't you?"

He smiled innocently. Too innocently. "I'm only trying to do what's best for two of my best friends."

Kagome chuckled. "Why do I get the feeling there's something in all of this for you?"

He didn't even bat an eye. "Of course there's something in it for me." Miroku sent Sango a meaningful smile. "While you go off with Inuyasha for a few hours, I get to help Sango run the bookstore." He moved to put an arm around her waist, but the brunette expertly slapped his hand away.

"Keep those where I can see them, Miroku," she warned, though Kagome didn't miss the way her friend blushed in pleasure at the attention. Those two were hopeless.

Just then the bell chimed at the door, and the three friends turned at once to see Inuyasha step into the small store dressed casually in baggy jeans and a red shirt. He looked over at them, and Kagome couldn't help but meet his gaze, feeling her stomach clench at the intensity within his amber eyes. Jerk or not, he was far too sexy for his own good. That had been part of the reason she refused to meet with him; it was a lot easier to remain angry with a man who looked_ that_ good when he wasn't right in front of her.

"Inuyasha!" Miroku exclaimed happily. "We were just talking about you! What a surprise!"

There was something about Miroku's tone that caused Kagome's radar to go up, and she glanced at the violet-eyed man suspiciously for the first time. "Oh yeah," she grumbled, more to herself than anything. "A big surprise. I don't suppose you had anything to do with this coincidence, did you Miroku?"

He gave her one of his notoriously innocent looks that said Of-course-I'm-a-virgin in big bold letters, only confirming for her that he was in whatever was going on so deep he couldn't see the surface any more. "I promise, Kagome, I had nothing to do with it."

"Uh-huh." She turned and looked at Inuyasha again, her eyes, without her permission, taking in his muscular chest with a certain amount of feminine appreciation. But when she saw him smirk in a self-satisfied manner in response, her hot look immediately cooled. "What do you want, Mr. Yamamoto?"

He blinked and looked at her directly. "I've asked you before to call me Inuyasha."

"And I've said I won't call you that until we know each other better."

"Amazing how difficult that is when our conversations are only about two minutes long and usually resulting in you hanging up on me."

"If I hang up on you, Mr. Yamamoto, it's your own fault. I make it a point not to talk with jerks, imbeciles, or idiots on a regular basis."

He growled in response. "You're no picnic yourself, you know that?"

Kagome smiled sweetly. "Then why do you keep coming back for more?"

Inuyasha wanted to blurt out that if it were up to him he'd just throw her in the river and be done with it, but figured that wouldn't be the best way to achieve his ultimate goal: a civilized lunch. So instead he tried to give her another of his smoldering looks, hoping to gain another appreciative stare from her in response. "Because you intrigue me, Kagome...that's why." He stepped closer.

She just rolled her eyes. "Oh please, put away your macho routine for someone who cares. And I'll save you the trouble of needing it again by going to lunch."

"I..." He trailed off as he realized what she'd just said. "You will?"

Kagome walked over and retrieved a light yellow jacket from a rack by the counter, pulling it on over her tan slacks and sleeveless blue turtleneck. "Yes, Mr. Yamamoto, if only so that you'll see you really don't want to come back for more ever again." She ran a hand through her hair, which fell down her back in a mass of thick waves, and glanced at Sango. "I'll be back in two hours at the most."

"Two hours?" Inuyasha smirked. "You must be expecting a good time then."

She glared at him. "Grow up. You really aren't all that, in spite of what the rest of your adoring public may have told you."

"Keh, whatever." He followed her to the door and watched as she checked her wallet for cash. "You don't need any money. I'm buying."

"Oh no you're not. The last thing I want is for you to get it into your brain that this is some kind of a date. I'm buying my lunch."

"Damn it, woman, will you just let me pick up the tab?"

"No!"

"Fine!"

The door slammed behind them, though the sounds of their bickering could still be heard for at least another minute, leaving Miroku and Sango to shake their heads in exasperation.

8

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8

Thirty minutes later, Kagome decided she was having just about the worst non-date of her life. Once they'd reached the small cafe two blocks down the street from her store, Inuyasha had gone so silent that all they'd done was look at menus and order their food. She was actually dreading when their sandwiches came, because then there would be nothing left between them and the paycheck but actual conversation.

Playing with his napkin, which had once resembled a cute little swan but now looked like a deranged slug on the table, Inuyasha finally looked up. "You know, for a woman that never shuts up you've been awfully quiet."

"I've been...?" Kagome sat, stunned, before recovering and finding her own temper again. "Excuse me, but it's hardly my job to fill the air with meaningless conversation, baka, when you're the one who's pursued me up and down the island of Manhattan for nearly two weeks!"

"I haven't pursued you up and down the island of Manhattan."

"You've been calling me at least five times every day."

"That's hardly a crime."

She groaned in frustration and took a sip of her water before glancing out the window at the many New Yorkers hurrying about their busy lives. "Why did you ask me to lunch, Mr. Yamamoto? Do you want something? Are you doing an undercover assignment now on little-known bookstores?"

"Hardly," he grunted in reply, but when she narrowed her eyes again he realized he'd have to do something or else the lunch he'd worked so hard for would be over and he would not have gained any material for his column other than ten ways to be insulted by a woman. "Look...Miroku talks about you a lot at work, and I figured I'd like to meet you."

"Because Miroku talks about me?" She looked skeptical, and he couldn't blame her. It was a lame reason and he knew it. Damn it! Why did he have to be so awkward around women? Sure he had adoring fans, but he knew if he actually talked to any of them for more than five minutes they'd decide he wasn't worth their time.

"He said you were interested in becoming a writer," he tried again.

"So? I'm sure you have plenty of people ask for your 'help' in becoming a better writer." She glowered over her water glass. "I'm not looking for that kind of help."

It dawned on him what she meant, and Inuyasha nearly spit the beer he'd been drinking all over the table. "Jesus, woman, what kind of person do you think I am?"

"The kind that blows a story to spend time with a prostitute."

"It wasn't like that at all!"

"Really? So you just make it a habit to hang with the women in the alleys, is that it?"

"No!"

She leaned across the table. "Then what were you doing there? You said you wanted to explain your side of the story, Mr. Yamamoto...so here I am, ready to listen." She gestured widely with her arms.

Inuyasha sighed and looked down at his beer, not sure what he could, or should, tell her, if anything. He couldn't exactly tell her he'd been speaking with several women who had connections to Kikyou's killers, because then he'd have to explain why he had a personal interest in avenging her great aunt who happened to have died over fifty years ago. Still, he had to offer her something, because for some reason he didn't like the idea that she thought he was...well..._that_ kind of guy.

"I was doing research for another story," he finally said cautiously, watching for her reaction. All she did was raise an eyebrow, though he could tell she wasn't completely writing him off, so he continued. "Let's just say I had a little more personally invested in that one."

"What kind of story would take you into the slums of New York City?" She didn't sound disgusted, just intrigued, like she really wanted to know. He took that as an encouraging sign.

"I knew someone who was trapped in the middle of some dangerous stuff a while back; dangerous stuff that eventually got her killed. Ever since I've been looking for a way to expose the men who killed her and bring them to justice, but I've had no leads to go on until a few months ago. I was so excited about it that I kind of blew off my other special on Congress, so when I submitted it to my editors, I trusted them to do a thorough check on the facts before giving it to Sesshoumaru."

"He's your brother, right?"

"Half brother, actually."

"Oh." She appeared thoughtful for a moment. "So I take it your editors didn't check your facts?"

He grunted. "Not really, although I suppose I can't really put the blame on them. I'm usually the type that insists on doing all my own work so that by the time they ever see any of my pieces they are so thoroughly checked and re-checked that they could pass a high level background analysis. They probably assumed I'd done the same thing with this story too, but I hadn't really gotten to that stage yet when leads about Kik...my friend's death, were brought to my attention." He took another sip of his beer. "So there's your first lesson in writing; never become too personally involved in your work, or else you make mistakes."

Kagome actually smiled at that statement, hearing the bitterness in his voice and not doubting for an instant that the man before her had regrets about what he'd done. "Actually, I should think for the kind of writing I want to do, personal attachment is critical."

"Ah...right, you want to be a novelist."

She tried to keep the playful banter going. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

He shrugged. "I've just never understood how people could call writing pure fiction every day a living."

"Without stories, our world would be pretty boring."

"I prefer facts to fiction any day."

"Why?"

"Because facts are real...things I can prove and trust. Fiction is usually made up of fragile thoughts and hopes and ideas...things that can easily disappear in the blink of an eye."

Kagome chuckled. "That's kind of a cynical outlook on life."

Inuyasha just grunted. "I never said I wasn't a cynic. After some of the shit I've seen and uncovered about our world, I'm amazed I haven't completely given up on mankind."

Just then their food arrived, and both greedily dug into their sandwiches for a few minutes of silence, though this time it was a much more comfortable silence that passed between them than before. Kagome couldn't help but think that maybe Miroku had been right, and Inuyasha wasn't so bad after all.

"So what are you doing right now?" Kagome finally asked after half her sandwich was gone. "Are you back to working on your hard-hitting stories yet?"

"Hardly. Sesshoumaru's a slave driver. He's got me on a kind of probation, and I have no idea when that's going to be lifted."

"But didn't you explain to him why you let the facts slide on your Congress story? How could he not understand about you wanting to bring justice to your dead friend?" There was actually a small amount of anger on his behalf in the tone of her voice, and for the first time Inuyasha wondered if perhaps Kagome's temper wasn't such a bad thing after all...so long as it was directed at someone else.

"Well, he takes a lot of pride in the magazine having a perfect record when it comes to printing the truth, and since I kind of blew it, he's more than a little pissed."

"Everyone makes mistakes though," Kagome continued. "And it's not like you're that old. You shouldn't be expected to be perfect for at least another ten years."

Inuyasha almost laughed aloud at that. If only Kagome knew how old he really was, she'd understand why Sesshoumaru was so pissed off. At his age, Inuyasha should not only be perfect, he should be able to write several stories at once and still get it all right. Still...it felt kind of good to have someone defending him for once (other than Miroku, anyway).

No one had really done that since Kikyou.

"Yeah, well..." Feeling uncomfortable, Inuyasha decided to change the conversation's direction. "Sesshoumaru is a bastard and always will be. But since I've bared some of my secrets, I think you owe me some facts about you now."

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yes. Tell me why you decided to run a bookstore, of all things."

"I love reading, always have, and college wasn't for me, so I decided to go into business at a fairly young age in an area that I enjoyed."

"You didn't graduate from college?'

"No. I tried, but after two years, I just realized I was beating my head against a stone wall. I guess I'm simply not the type who is meant for a formal education. I prefer learning from life instead."

"Fair enough." It wasn't like Inuyasha had ever gone to college either, but he wasn't about to tell her that. Those kinds of secrets were best kept for much later in a relationship...if they were ever told at all. And, as he kept reminding himself, his supposed relationship with Kagome was not real; it was all artificial, designed on purpose for the sake of a weekly column in his brother's magazine.

Nothing more.

"So how did you first get started as a business owner?"

"My family helped me open a small bookstore in the town not far from my home. Business was fairly meager there, but I figured it was enough to get by. Still, I wanted to see if I could make it in the big city, so eventually, after about a year, I made a move to a small space down by Central Park." She shrugged. "It was nice enough since I could literally walk to the park every day for a lunch break in less than five minutes, but when it came to selling books...well...it wasn't the best location. Plus, it didn't help that my store was so small it just sort of got lost between the other, bigger companies over there."

Inuyasha actually found that he was intrigued by what she was telling him. "So how'd you get out of that situation and move on to Fifth Avenue?"

Kagome laughed, recalling how she had done everything from posting flyers on car windows to painting a huge sign that sat out on the sidewalk to attract attention, all to get some business. "Well, let's just say I've earned where I am today, and I am damn proud of it, too."

The hanyou chuckled at that as he took the last bite of his sandwich. Kagome Higurashi certainly was, if nothing else, an odd combination of a lot of things he usually never saw in a woman. It was refreshing. "You should be proud. And your parents really weren't upset that you just dropped out of college to start your own business?"

Kagome laughed. "No. In fact, I think after my family saw some of the grades I was producing, they were almost grateful they weren't just throwing thousands of dollars at a C-average education."

"So you were one of those students, huh?"

"No...in high school, actually, I was an honors student. I was going to Columbia with an academic scholarship and everything."

"You got into Columbia?" He whistled. "I guess you couldn't have been all bad then."

She grinned, but then shook her head wistfully. "I don't know. In high school I'd done well simply so I could get into a top college, but when I got to college I realized I'd applied for all the wrong reasons. I didn't really like school that much, and felt like it was taking me nowhere fast. Since I didn't want to be a doctor or a lawyer or anything that actually required a good eight years of my life, I figured there was no harm in pursuing my dreams through a different road."

It made sense to him, and Inuyasha had to admit he admired the woman for her guts. One thing he'd learned about American culture was that any more anyone without a college education was usually frowned upon, unless they were lucky enough to make millions of dollars through a remote business venture, and then they became the hero of every school-hating kid in the country. Either way, it was definitely the road less traveled, and Kagome seemed to be walking it with an extra bounce in her step.

He swirled the beer in his glass thoughtfully.

Kikyou hadn't been that way. Frankly, she'd resented anything that made her different from those around her. As a hanyou who had been persecuted simply for existing, Inuyasha had been able to relate to that need to blend in and go unnoticed, and that's what had drawn him to her in the first place. But suddenly he found himself admiring Kagome's fire and courage to be the very thing that neither he nor Kikyou had wanted to be: different.

"Hello? Inuyasha? Are you still with me?" Kagome was waving a hand over his face comically to bring him back to reality, and he shook his head to clear it.

Damn her for looking so much like her dead aunt! And damn him for not being able to step back enough to make a clear distinction! Why did he insist on making the two women the same, anyway, when they were so obviously different? And...

"Hey!" He stopped his thought short. "You just called me Inuyasha."

Kagome opened her eyes a little wider momentarily before a silly grin came to her face. "I guess I did, didn't I?" She groaned as she saw his arrogant smirk return. It had been absent for the last half-hour, and she found she liked the man behind the facade. So much for that.

"What happened to refusing to call me by my name?"

"You don't have to look like the cat that just caught the canary, you know." Kagome haughtily sipped the last of her water and pushed away her empty plate, showing she had a generous appetite. "I said I'd call you by your first name when I got to know you a little better. Well, now I do know you better."

"Keh! You were just being stubborn, woman; admit it!"

"Okay, maybe I was." That floored him. "But it worked, didn't it?" She leaned back in her chair. "So...are you still willing to pay for my lunch after all? I think I've changed my mind about that too."

"Does that mean this is a date?"

"No...but I realized I'd be stupid not to let you pay. You were nice enough that you've earned the privilege."

"The privilege?" He sputtered before recovering and giving her a mock bow over the table. "Well thank you, madam. You certainly ate enough to make it well worth my wallet's time."

He hadn't meant it as anything but another jibe, but Kagome's back immediately went ramrod straight before she shot out of her chair completely, rattling the table. Dragging her wallet out of her white purse, she pulled out a twenty and slammed it in the center of the table. "Screw you, Inuyasha." And with that she flounced out the door, leaving him stunned.

A waiter came by with the bill a few moments later, and Inuyasha practically snarled at him when asked if he'd like anything else. Slamming down his own cash, he also stormed out of the restaurant in the opposite direction Kagome had taken, wanting to get as far away from her bookstore as he could.

He just didn't understand her! They'd been having a fairly decent conversation, and then she had to get all huffy about a stupid, harmless little comment! Granted, Inuyasha knew better than to ever imply that a woman ate too much, but he figured someone with Kagome's figure would shake it off fairly quickly.

Obviously he was wrong.

It's why he hated women so much. Too damn emotional, confusing, and otherwise infuriating...and just his luck; he knew he'd be calling the emotional ringleader to ask if she'd want to go to the opera tomorrow. Lucky him. Keh! He just hoped Miroku and Sango calmed her down a little before then. He really wasn't in the mood for another tongue-lashing.


	4. Chapter Four

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**

Hello everyone! I'm so glad you're enjoying this story! I can't believe the response it's already received. It makes me so happy. My mind is racing with ideas for this plot, and I literally can't wait to get to the juicy parts of the plot. I've already got scenes in my brain...but they'll have to wait until we get there together!

Work continues to be as crazy as ever, but it's finally slowing down as they're phasing me out of the guard rotation and the group lesson schedules since I'll be leaving for school the third week in September. I have a small crush of my own at the moment, so a lot of my thoughts about him are going into how Kagome views Inuyasha, because they're both similar on the surface: gruff, quiet, and handsome (though I'll admit that Inuyasha is a little bit more flawless...). It's true though; there's nothing like real life to inspire the muses! lol

There's some more information on Inuyasha's past in this chapter (we'll be getting in depth about Kagome later on), and some more arguing and sexual tension. Mmmmm...my favorite. Enjoy everyone! Blessings!

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Title: Strictly Off the Record

Author: dolphingirl0113

Chapter IV

Rating: PG-13 (for language and at times implied sexual situations)

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, _Sam's Letters to Jennifer_ by James Patterson, or _Madame Butterfly_.

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It was a slow Friday for the bookstore, and like any slow day Kagome soon found herself nestled in a corner chair on the second floor with a book she'd plucked from one of the shelves. One ear, as always, was tuned to the bell on the door so that if a customer walked in she could easily leap to her feet and pretend she was merely filing the book back where it belonged. But until then, it was just her and James Patterson and one of his newer novels, _Sam's Letters to Jennifer_.

An unexpected gem, Kagome had been hooked within the first few chapters as she realized that 'Sam' was not a man, but a woman, and that she was imparting her life's story to her granddaughter 'Jennifer'; namely, the realities of her fifty-plus year marriage and the secret affair she had on the side that had been passionate up until the very end. Short and a very fast read, Kagome was surprised when she reached the final page and realized she'd read the entire morning away along with a few hours in the early afternoon. Glancing down at the novel, she saw the way she'd bent the cover back in several places and creased the spine and knew she'd just have to buy it since she could never sell it in such a used condition.

Oh well.

She grinned happily and tucked her newest treasure against her chest as she moved down the spiral staircase and back to the checkout counter, hoping that perhaps if she were visible more customers would be encouraged to come in. It was actually about time for the delivery trucks to arrive anyway, so Kagome also prepared herself for a few hours of heavy lifting and sorting.

The bell on the door chimed, but it wasn't a customer that came through the door; it was Sango, still dressed in the robes she used to teach martial arts at her small defense school on the opposite side of Manhattan. "Hey Kagome!" She glanced around. "Slow day, I guess."

"You could say that again." Kagome laughed. "But that's alright; while no one was here I chose my next book to be featured in the front of the store."

"Oh?" Kagome held up the blue-tinted paperback for her friend to inspect. "_Sam's Letters to Jennifer_," Sango read aloud after a moment. "It's definitely a lot shorter than most of your featured picks. What kind of book is it?"

"The best kind. A short, quick read on the surface with an easy moving plot, but underneath it has so many layers and various minor plotlines you could spend weeks thinking about them." Kagome's voice, unbeknownst to her, had taken on an excited tone as she continued to speak.

Sango chuckled. "Sound's like a keeper then. And you'll be buying this one too, I assume? Just like you buy about half the bookstore?"

Kagome shrugged. "What can I say? Books are the love of my life. They're worth the expense and the extra space required to keep them all in my apartment."

"These are the love of your life?" Sango glanced pointedly around the entire bookstore once. "Kagome, you have no life."

"Hey!"

The brunette barely missed the paperback that came sailing at her head. She picked it off the floor. "So this is how you treat the love of your life? Sheesh...no guy stands a chance."

"Shut up, Sango. What are you doing here, anyway?"

She shrugged. "I figured I'd help out with the heavy lifting today since I'm already pumped up from teaching my classes all morning."

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "You battled the subway and the morning crowds all the way across Manhattan just to help me move boxes and put books up on their shelves?" She was rewarded with another shrug, and went in for the kill as she leaned across the counter dramatically. "So I suppose then it's just a coincidence that this is about the time Miroku comes by with his delivery."

Sango gaped momentarily before recovering with her usual amount of grace, tossing her long brown ponytail over her shoulder and lifting her chin in the air proudly. "Don't give me any grief, Kagome."

"I'm just stating a fact."

"You're stating a wishful thought. He's not my type."

"He's exactly your type; a little bit of a rogue, a charmer, witty, fun, and underneath that womanizing facade he has a heart of gold."

Sango rolled her eyes. "It's hardly a facade, Kagome."

"So he likes a pretty girl in a skirt." Kagome shrugged her shoulders and smoothed out the cover of the paperback she'd retrieved from Sango. "In all honesty, what guy doesn't?"

"I don't care if he likes a woman in a skirt, Kagome...but he doesn't have to then attempt to remove that skirt at every opportunity."

"And I tell you it's all an act."

"Then why don't you date him if you think he's such a catch?"

Kagome shook her head like the answer was obvious. "Because he's not _my_ type, Sango...he's yours."

Seeing her opportunity to turn the conversation around, Sango took a step forward and waggled her eyebrows playfully. "So what is your type Kagome?"

"I don't know...I always thought of someone very kind, warm, and loving; someone who loves to cuddle and have those intimate, philosophical conversations by a roaring fire."

"I don't know, Kagome, you always struck me as the type who would go after the bad boy with the heart of gold underneath."

Kagome made a face. "Ugh, what would make you think that?"

"The simple fact that you've turned away plenty of nice, warm, fuzzy men in the past without a second thought is proof enough for me."

"Well maybe that's just because none of them were the right warm, fuzzy men." She absently wiped down the counter with a cloth. "I could never go for the bad boy type...way too many issues. That's why when asked if I prefer Batman or Superman, I always choose Superman. At least with Clark Kent I'd get out and have some fun; Bruce Wayne would spend all his time in the Bat Cave while I desperately tried to get him to open up."

Sango grinned devilishly. "Yeah, but Kagome...Bruce Wayne is sexy."

"Clark Kent's cute."

"Cute, maybe...but not sexy; cute is fun, but sexy is just plain yummy."

Kagome stared at her friend momentarily before a matching grin turned up her own lips as she giggled. "I like yummy."

"And you know who else is yummy...Inuyasha Yamamoto."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "You had to bring him up while I was in the middle of a nice fantasy about Batman and caves and..."

"I thought you didn't like Batman."

"That's beside the point."

Sango laughed. "Come on, Kagome; you have to admit he's pretty damn sexy."

Thinking about Inuyasha's broad shoulders and the few glimpses she'd had of lean, chorded muscles through his shirts caused Kagome's mouth to go dry. And the way he stood with his arms crossed in front of him while he stared out at the world with his sharp, gorgeous amber eyes, partially hidden by those sinfully tempting silver bangs...

Kagome licked her lips. "Sexy doesn't equal nice, Sango." But the way her voice cracked gave her away, and Sango just laughed again as the door chimed.

"Good afternoon!" Miroku announced his presence with his usual friendly air. "And how are two of Manhattan's loveliest ladies today?"

Sango had the decency to blush and glance down at her ratty old robes, suddenly feeling very self-conscious about the stray wisps of hair coming loose from her matted ponytail. She immediately stiffened, however, when she heard Kagome snickering behind her. "Is that how you greet all the women you make deliveries to?"

Miroku pretended to be hurt. "Now Sango, is that any way to greet me when you know I only deliver personally to you?"

She folded her arms. "The book store is Kagome's, not mine."

"But you're here." He winked and grinned rakishly, his violet eyes dancing with mischief.

Kagome giggled as she watched them interact. "Not your type indeed," she commented dryly, causing Sango to whirl around and glare just as the door chimed again. But her glare instantly changed into an evil smirk as she saw who it was.

"Hey Miroku, why the hell do I get stuck carrying in the box of magazines? Stop flirting and come help me!" Inuyasha hollered from the door as he balanced a cardboard box in his arms. It wasn't heavy, not by a long shot with his demon strength, but it was still a nuisance nonetheless. And the dirt on the box was getting all over the shirt he'd taken to the cleaners to have pressed so that he'd look presentable when he saw Kagome.

"Oh look, Kagome," Sango giggled, "Batman's here." Kagome glared in warning as both men stopped what they were doing to give the women puzzled looks.

"Batman?" Inuyasha asked comically, his face screwed up into a mixture of disgust and confusion. He actually turned to see if Batman was behind him.

"So you associate Inuyasha with Batman, Kagome?" Miroku recovered immediately. "How romantic; I always knew bad boys were your type."

"They are not my type!" Kagome snapped back, marching around the counter to forcefully pull the box from Inuyasha's arms, doing her best not to stumble under the sudden weight. "And what are _you_ doing here?"

Inuyasha grabbed the box back and nearly caused her to topple over in the process. "I'm here to see if you'd like to go to the premiere of _Madame Butterfly_ with me tonight, but it just occurred to me that maybe the Met is too sophisticated for you."

"I'll have you know that I have seen _Madame Butterfly_ twice before this, and have never cared for it, so the answer is no." She attempted to take the box back, but this time he was prepared and wouldn't let her. "Will you give me my magazines please?"

"I'm quite capable of carrying them wherever they're supposed to go."

"You just told Miroku you wanted help."

"I told Miroku to take them...not you. That didn't mean I needed help." He attempted to walk around her but she moved with him. "Damn it, woman, will you move out of my way?"

"No! I said I'm not going to the opera, so you've accomplished what you came here for, and now you can give me my magazines and leave!" Again she attempted to take the box, and again he resisted as the pair unknowingly made their way towards the back storage room.

"Why don't you like _Madame Butterfly_?"

"What?" Kagome blinked as she continued walking backwards. "That's hardly relevant. I just don't."

"Well have you ever seen it performed at the Met?"

"No."

"Then maybe that's your problem: poor performances."

"It's the damn story I don't like, so it wouldn't matter if the performances were good or not."

"Have you ever been to the Met?"

"Yes! I'm not without class, Mr. Yamamoto, or taste."

"So we're back to formal names again?"

Kagome huffed as they reached the storage room, kicking open the door with more force than was necessary and wincing as it swung open and slammed against the back wall. Taking the box he was finally willing to release, Kagome unceremoniously dropped it to the ground between them. "There. The box is where it's supposed to go. Now you can leave."

"Not until you've agreed to go to the opera with me."

"I don't want to see _Madame Butterfly_."

He whipped out two tickets from the breast pocket of his red silk shirt, which Kagome observed did a wonderful job of outlining his flat chest and broad shoulders while also accenting his wealth of silver hair. Sango's voice played in the back of her mind, along with sudden visions of bad boys, Batman, and Bruce Wayne.

"Yummy..." She agreed, not realizing she'd spoken aloud until Inuyasha froze mid-sentence and looked at her strangely.

"Yummy? Are you hungry or something? Or are you eating a donut I'm not aware of?"

"I...um..." Kagome's face flamed red, matching that sinfully sexy shirt of his, and she forced her eyes to remain on the floor as she collected her wits. Placing her hands on her hips, she allowed her temper to take over and protect her more feminine thoughts. "Just get out of my way!" But as she took a step, she forgot the box was between them, and ended up sprawling forward against his chest as his hands instinctively caught her arms to keep her from falling to the side.

And in that moment the world forever shifted.

Kagome had the strange feeling that she'd come home surrounded by those arms, and her fingers, of their own accord, started absently tracing circles over the muscular chest she had only observed from afar up until that moment. Against her will, her eyes slowly moved upward until they met his, and within those swirls of amber Kagome saw something that could have been shock, or surprise, or even both.

"I'm sorry," she whispered hastily. "I'm such a klutz. I..." She realized he was barely even blinking, let alone registering what she was saying. "Inuyasha?"

"It can't be..." It was as though he were suddenly staring off into another world, his eyes looking straight through her, and she began to feel very uncomfortable, the familiar, warm feeling vaporizing instantly to be replaced by the cold fingers of awkward uncertainty.

She started to move back, but his fingers tightened around her arms, and she felt trapped. "Let me go." And those three words worked their magic, because he immediately came back to reality and released her as though she were some vile creature he'd inadvertently touched.

Awkwardly staring at each other, he rubbed the back of his neck and looked at everything but her face, which did nothing to remove her sudden nervous embarrassment. "Look...I know you seem to enjoy resisting every offer I make, but can you just forget about the comment I made yesterday and go with me tonight?"

In all honesty, Kagome had completely forgotten about his inadvertent insult in regards to her appetite the day before...but she clung to the memory now as though it were a lifeline. Petty insults were so much easier to understand than dealing with sudden emotions and attractions she'd rather leave alone.

Still, her voice seemed to reply almost of its own accord. "Alright." She blinked and looked away with a frown as she continued to claw her way back to a degree of familiarity and normalcy. "But no insults out of you tonight, or I will not hesitate to do something that will forever ruin your public image."

"Keh!" He grunted at that and turned away. "Fine...I'll meet you for dinner at six, and then we'll take a cab to the show. Do you know the Tavern on the Green in Central Park?"

Kagome was a little surprised that he was choosing such an expensive restaurant, especially for dinner, but she figured he probably had plenty of money to throw around, and thus didn't dwell on it. "Yes. I'll be there."

"And it's formal attire only, especially since we have box seats for the premiere and passes to the cocktail party afterwards."

Kagome glared at that. "I'm not an idiot, Inuyasha. I promise I won't embarrass you."

He just grunted again and walked away, stuffing the tickets back into his shirt pocket while Kagome tried not to think about the way his muscles had felt through the silk. Suddenly things were a little bit more intense than she could handle. Miroku had insisted she would like Inuyasha if she just gave him a chance...and now she was beginning to believe him.

Chuckling if only to remove some of the tension in the room, she heard her voice disappear into the silence before looking down at her fingers and grimacing. "Maybe Batman is my type after all."

She wasn't too sure how happy she was about that.

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"Inuyasha, will you please stop pacing? You're making me dizzy." Miroku took a sip from his glass, looking like a man without a care in the world as he lounged against the firm back of his chair while swirling his red wine.

Both men were dressed in tuxedoes for the coming evening at the opera, but while Miroku seemed at home in his usual private area of Tavern on the Green, Inuyasha had never felt more out of place. He may have been a famous journalist, but that didn't mean he purposefully associated with the rich and powerful of society on a regular basis. And that night his nerves were even worse than usual as he waited for Kagome and Sango to arrive.

"Get over it, Miroku; I feel ridiculous in this stupid tux and even more uncomfortable about the idea of spending all evening with Kagome since what we're doing most people would consider a romantic date."

"It's supposed to be romantic. That's the point."

"But I don't want romantic!" The hanyou snapped back as he whirled around and made a further indentation in the plush carpet. "I don't even know if I want to do this assignment with Kagome Higurashi any more. Maybe you and that bastard brother of mine could find me someone else."

"Nonsense, Inuyasha," Miroku waved his hand as though to wipe his friend's statement away. "You and Kagome have been getting along much better, and besides, if the two of you could see the tension in the air whenever you're together...well, you'd be saying what I'm saying now."

Inuyasha grunted and stopped his pacing momentarily. "Did it occur to you that there's tension because the woman is ready to castrate me at a moment's notice?"

Miroku just laughed and raised his glass in a mock salute. "Sorry, Inuyasha...my mind's made up, and I'm a surprisingly good matchmaker when I want to be. You and Kagome are perfect for each other, and that's my final word."

"That's what I'm afraid of," the hanyou whispered while turning around and reaching under his shirt to pull out a small circular amulet, simple in design, with nothing more than his name in gold kanji blazed across the surface. He fingered the familiar piece and his eyes became hazy, looking far away into the past as he heard his father's voice in his head.

_"Inuyasha, this medallion will bind you to your destined mate some day. It is very important, and you must never lose it or give it away, for whoever owns it will hold power over you."_

_Inuyasha glanced up in confusion. "But father, if it gives someone else power, then why would I give it away to even my mate?"_

_His father's sharp golden eyes, capable of bringing even the most powerful demons to their knees, softened in patient understanding for his younger, beloved hanyou son. "For your intended mate, it is a gift to give it away, my son...for this medallion will grant her your lifespan and protect her with your strength even if you cannot always be at her side." The great Inu no Taisho glanced lovingly over his son's shoulder at his wife and mate, the Lady Izayoi. "It grants you the chance to be with the one you love forever." _

"Forever..." Inuyasha echoed his father's words, still seeing the love in the great demon's eyes for his mother.

Theirs had been a blissfully happy union, preordained by fate and time to shake the world since it was strictly forbidden for demons and humans to associate, let alone love one another. And yet Izayoi had been the great dog demon's intended mate since before either was born, and they had been lucky enough to love one another from the moment they first met...but it was also their love that had, in the end, destroyed them both.

Such a reality had caused Inuyasha to both long for and dread the moment when he would meet the woman who would be his mate. He had always secretly yearned for the companionship, passion, loyalty, and love his parents had shared...but he'd also feared becoming so enamored that he would lose a part of himself to another and in the end fall because of it. As a hanyou he'd learned early on that any weakness meant death, and love, in his mind, was a great weakness.

Still, when he'd met Kikyou all those years ago...a woman who mirrored his faraway, sad, lonely life and longed for normalcy as much as he did...he'd begun to believe that perhaps love wouldn't be so awful after all. Unfortunately, there was one great law that the Inu no Taisho had not imparted to his son before his death, and one that Sesshoumaru had not bothered to share since up until about a hundred years ago the brothers hadn't even been on speaking terms.

That law was that a demon did not choose his mate...fate chose her for him. The amulet would only protect and bind one woman.

As Inuyasha's father had died before he could learn all of this, the hanyou had foolishly believed it was his choice who became his mate, and when Kikyou had come to him fearing for her life he had, in an act of desperation to keep her safe, granted her the amulet while swearing it would protect her life. They'd only known one another for a few months, but since Inuyasha had never bothered to learn about matters of the heart before in all his long years walking the earth, he had assumed what he felt to be true and passionate love, and that granting her the amulet was meant to be.

Someone dropped a glass nearby, causing him to jolt momentarily from his memories, and he tightened his fist around the amulet, though whether it was out of anger or pain he didn't know. All he knew was that he'd watched her die wearing his amulet, just as shocked as he was that it had not protected her as he'd promised.

He'd failed her. She had let her guard down believing she was safe from a surprise attack, and in the end had died because of her belief in him.

"Kik-you..." Her name still caught in his throat whenever he spoke it aloud.

Had he loved her passionately? Inuyasha didn't know, since he'd never known a woman that way before her, and never dared to after her death. All he did know was that she'd died because of him, and he wanted no more to do with the amulet around his neck, swearing he would continue to wear it only so that no enemy could ever lay their hands on it and show him just what kind of power it could wield.

But then, that afternoon in Kagome's little bookshop when she'd fallen against him, he'd felt it pulse in a way it never had before, radiating warmth as though it were calling out to Kagome to take it. And when she'd begun to make those little circles on his chest (which had sent a few uncomfortable shivers down his own spine in response), she'd unknowingly been circling the amulet, causing it to pulse every time her fingers grazed its surface.

He didn't want her to be his mate. He didn't want anyone as his mate, but he most definitely didn't want anyone with Kikyou's face at his side for all eternity as a reminder of what he'd failed to do. But the amulet had reacted for the first time in over five hundred years, and that could only mean one thing...

"Sango! Kagome! You look gorgeous!" Inuyasha heard Miroku's exclamation and groaned. Fate was so cruel sometimes.

But then he looked up, and could scarcely breathe.

Dressed in a calf-length strapless gown of deep blue to match her eyes, Kagome was perfect. Her hair, pulled back on top of her head in tight curls, revealed an elegant neck that was usually hidden beneath turtlenecks. Over one arm was a short, white fur shawl that she could throw over her shoulders if it got cold, and a simple heart pendant drew modest attention to the creamy skin on her chest while heels that wound straps halfway up her calves drew a man's attention to her shapely legs and further up towards the curves that the dress hugged before flaring at the waist.

Simple, but stunning.

"You can close your mouth, Inuyasha," he vaguely heard her saying, and he blinked to bring her face into focus. "Or do I really look that bad?"

"No..." He found himself shaking his head and sounding like a drunken fool, but when she gave him a strange look he managed to wake up from his stupor. "I mean...that is..." Now he was stumbling over his words, and all three of his companions were giving him weird looks. "Keh!"

Kagome actually chuckled at that. "Why yes, I would love to have a seat, thank you!" She brushed past him, and he caught her now-familiar scent of spiced vanilla as she took the seat that a waiter was graciously holding out for her, handing off her shawl as she did so.

The evening was beautiful and warm, and Miroku's private table that was partially outside revealed the draping vines and winding paths surrounding the actual restaurant, the roof aglow with white and tinted lights, casting warm shadows along the walls, which were painted with images of angels, smiling children, and men and women enjoying wonderful feasts. Carpets covered the floors swirling with rich hues of gold, green, and purple, covering the sounds of feet as waiters traversed the dining areas and otherwise leaving the patrons of the restaurant to enjoy the sounds of Central Park, which spread out before them in all its beauty.

Taking it all with an awed expression, Kagome sighed dreamily. "I walk by this place almost every time I'm in the park, but I've only been here to eat once, and that was for brunch, so I wasn't able to see it all lit up like this. It's stunning."

"Yeah," Sango breathed in agreement, and together the two women acquired far off looks that told men they were in a woman's fantasy world, no doubt dreaming about Sir Loyal Hearts, carriages, and times and places where chivalry still thrived.

Inuyasha found it almost comical to watch Kagome's reactions to everything as various waiters came with wine lists, appetizers, and menus with prices that made her head spin. He came so often to such restaurants that he took it all for granted, but suddenly he was reminded of how it had felt when Sesshoumaru had first begun introducing him to the world of America's finery and wealth. How she managed to look so out of place and yet so at home in this world he would never know...but it was causing his lips to twitch into what could almost be considered a smile in response.

"I can't believe you have your own private table, Miroku," Sango finally commented after they'd made their orders. "You really come here that often?"

The violet-eyed man took it all in stride, as usual, as he oozed charm and class. "Of course. As a reviewer for _Reality Check_, people know my name and my face, and are always eager to show me excellent service at fair prices."

"But you don't review restaurants," Kagome commented.

"True...but I mention their names in my reviews if I happened to eat there before seeing the show."

Both women groaned and Sango actually smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "So you're just taking advantage of them aren't you?" She shook her head. "You're horrible, Miroku."

"I don't do it that often, my dear," he insisted as his large hand dwarfed hers on the table. Sango blushed furiously. "But I wanted this evening to be special for you."

Kagome grinned foolishly. "A woman could get used to this, don't you agree, Sango?" Her only response was a warning kick from underneath the table. Kagome laughed and looked away, leaving her friend to blush in peace.

Unfortunately, removing her friend as a distraction left Kagome with the uncomfortable position of enduring Inuyasha's intense stare, and as she had yet to fully recover from their little 'encounter' in the storage room, she wasn't sure she was quite ready for that yet. And he wasn't helping matters any by studiously avoiding looking in her direction.

Was her company really that unpleasant? Her temper flared at the thought. If that were the case, why the hell did he invite her out...again?

"You know, for a man who has asked me out twice, you are being awfully quiet again, Mr. Yamamoto," she commented bravely, hoping her face revealed nothing of her inner nervousness.

Inuyasha shrugged, determined not to meet her gaze. He wanted nothing to do with her...nothing at all...she was just an assignment...just an assignment...like any other...

"Inuyasha?" This time her voice did quaver slightly.

Damn. He hated making women feel bad, even if he didn't particularly enjoy their company on a regular basis. "Sorry...my mind's just on other things right now." She winced, and he realized how that must sound to her. He could have kicked himself. But she verbally did that for him as she looked up and he saw her eyes once more begin to shine, warning him that her temper was near the surface.

"You know, I didn't ask for this. You've pursued me relentlessly for the last few weeks, I had lunch with you yesterday where you didn't say a word for the first half-hour and finished the meal by insulting my appetite, and then you invited me out again to a dinner where I had to dress in my best, only to tell me you've got plenty of other things on your mind besides me." She furiously sipped her water before looking at him again. "What the hell is your problem?"

He gaped at her momentarily, still unsettled by the fact that she actually had a temper that matched his, before recovering. "Nothing is my problem, woman! You don't have to be so damn sensitive, sheesh! I'm just a busy man. I can't help it if I'm constantly thinking about several different things at once."

"Well then maybe you're just too busy to ask me out on any more dates, and I'll remember that the next time you try to convince me to say yes."

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

He hated women!

"Are you really one of those women who are upset if a man isn't constantly thinking about her? You didn't strike me as that type."

"_You_ asked _me_ out, baka! Not the other way around!" She rolled her eyes and huffed. "And what is everyone's sudden fixation on me and what they think they know? First Miroku and Sango think they know my type of man, and now you think you know what type of person I am after just two dates!"

Inuyasha smirked at what she said. "So you admit these are dates now?"

That stopped her cold. "I..." Mercifully for her their food arrived at that moment, and she eagerly picked up her fork.

"Still have an appetite, I see," he drawled, feeling overly confident.

She glared at him. "There is nothing wrong with my appetite. If you can't handle a woman who actually eats something besides a salad for dinner, then that's your problem, not mine."

"Why are you so sensitive?"

"Why are you so rude?"

"Can you both shut up and eat?" Sango asked in exasperation.

"What's the matter, Sango?" Kagome asked sweetly, feeling bitter and frustrated. "I thought you said bad boys were my type."

"Kagome..."

"Bad boy?" Inuyasha blinked. "I'm not a bad boy."

"Oh yes you are," Kagome hissed back. "You're the worst sort: rude, insulting, and unnecessarily cruel."

Miroku for once actually looked like he was slightly strained. "But all bad boys have a heart of gold underneath, right Kagome? Isn't that what you're always saying?"

She glared at him. "Obviously I haven't met an honest bad boy before."

"And you still haven't!" Inuyasha protested. "I'm not a bad boy!" For some reason the title conjured up images of leather-jacket wearing, alcohol drinking, smoking bums on motorcycles. He didn't care too much for the image. Granted, he was no Prince Charming...but that didn't mean he was every mother's worst nightmare either.

Lost as he was in his thoughts, he accidentally allowed the cut of veal on his fork to fall onto his lap, managing to hit the one part of his leg not covered by a napkin. "Shit!" He'd paid way too much for the damn Armani suit to stain it now.

Kagome glanced up to see him scrambling for water to dip his napkin and wipe his pants as he also leapt to his feet. She grunted as she tried not to laugh, and he looked at her with his hand poised over the dark stain that was visible even against the black of his pants. "Don't you dare laugh at me, woman!"

And of course that statement caused her to completely break down. Seeing his hurt expression, however, caused her to feel slightly guilty, and so she took the napkin from him as he furiously rubbed at his pants and dabbed at the stain herself. "Here, Inuyasha...let me help. You don't want to rub it into the pants. Just gently wipe it away as much as you can."

He stilled under her gentle touch, marveling at her amazing change from she-devil to caring angel so quickly. And then, as the stain started to disappear, both of them realized just how intimate her touch was...and how close her fingers were to parts of him that were even more intimate...

Kagome's face suddenly turned an adorable shade of pink and her hand slowed to a stop on his leg so that she was simply sitting on her chair and fiercely trying not to look up at him while her fingers remained on his pants. Inuyasha was no more eager for her to move, because that would mean they'd have to actually face the awkward moments that would follow...but when a few passing waiters started to stare, he knew the situation would only get worse.

"Would you mind letting go of my pants now?" He coughed.

"Oh!" Kagome sat up straight and scooted her chair slightly away from him in response, clasping her hands in her lap as though she were afraid they would do something else dishonorable of their own accord.

"Bad boys aren't your type Kagome?" Sango teased while Miroku just grinned stupidly.

"I'm not a bad boy!" Inuyasha snapped.

"Well now I know how Miroku must feel on a regular basis," Kagome stated, completely ignoring her friend's comment and Inuyasha's subsequent response.

"I'm hurt, Kagome."

"Yeah right."

And strangely enough, after that dinner slid into a comfortable rhythm so that even Kagome and Inuyasha were able to share a pleasant conversation (with an occasional insult or two). They were all feeling so relaxed that when it came time to leave the restaurant and hail a taxi, Kagome actually walked willingly at Inuyasha's side, and he didn't try to move away as she did so. And engrossed as they were in a conversation about writing and various techniques, they didn't even see Miroku or Sango grinning behind them.


	5. Chapter Five

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**

Hello everyone! Well…it's been a while. I'm sorry. The usual excuses apply. Life is crazy, school is far too time-consuming, etc. I hope you can all forgive me.

The story starts to take a turn here toward the dark side. Not completely, but just a little. The villain shall appear, and the first move shall be made in over fifty years. I hope you all enjoy. Blessings, everyone!

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**F.A.Q.**

**What inspired the Batman/Superman analogy?**

I figured people would be asking me about this. In one of my psychology classes a while back, the teacher posed the question to all of us about what is more attractive and appealing: dark, hidden desires, or dependable, reliable feelings? Obviously the answer is dark, hidden desires will always be more tempting for people simply because they _are_ the forbidden…but once this question was answered, she posed another question: with that in mind, what would you choose? The dark, passionate romance, or the reliable, dependable, sweet one? To answer this, she gave all girls the essay prompt: _Batman or Superman? Explain your choice._ She gave the guys a similar prompt, though I can't remember their female equivalents. Anyway, once written we all had to get up and read our essays. Ha! I still have mine. I admitted that knowing me I'd end up choosing the dark romance (Batman) even though my sensible side would insist the reliable romance (Superman) was the better choice. I'm just one of those people. But at least I was honest, right? Most of the girls stubbornly insisted they'd choose Superman without a second thought. Yeah right. What woman could ever refuse a dark, handsome hero at her door? Granted, there would be more problems perhaps, but I like the idea of passion that comes with conflict and resolution. Besides, unlike Kagome, I have no problem admitting that I have a weakness for bad boy complexes. And that's probably more information than anyone wanted to know. Lol! Anyway, there's your answer everyone who asked me this after the last chapter!

**Will we ever see what Inuyasha's writing in his column?**

Hehe. In time, I promise. You all have my word that at some point in this story you shall see every last word he's written on his 'courtship' with Kagome. And that's all I will say on the matter.

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Title: Strictly Off the Record

Author: dolphingirl0113

Chapter V

Rating: PG-13 (for language and at times implied sexual situations)

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Sherrilyn Kenyon's _Dark-Hunter_ series.

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"My lord, we think there's something you should see."

Naraku, a man long accustomed to being obeyed in all things, responded by turning lazily in his leather recliner, a cruel smirk darkening his handsome face as he observed the nervous young man standing before him. "Then show me." The brown-haired, freckled youth nodded and slid a copy of the _New York Times_ onto the ornate black desk separating them.

His dark, piercing gaze moved slowly over the paper, noting it was the living section, several pages in. An article in the upper right corner had been circled, accompanied by a small black and white picture. _**Inuyasha Yamamoto a bachelor no more?** _The bold headline asked. Naraku frowned.

So...the hanyou had a new plaything. It was bound to happen eventually. That hardly warranted his attention.

Eyes skimming the article briefly, he flicked his eyes in the direction of the picture, and it was then that his breath hitched. The woman on the hanyou's arm...she looked just like...

"Kikyou." He breathed the woman's name aloud for the first time in over fifty years, amazed by how easily it still flowed off his tongue.

Snatching the paper off the desk and holding it close to his face, Naraku carefully reread the article word for word, learning that the woman's name was Kagome Higurashi, vaguely familiar to him, though he couldn't quite place it in his memory. He studied her picture carefully, noting every line, angle, and plane of her face and figure, painfully realizing that while she wasn't Kikyou she was very, very close.

But what was she doing with Inuyasha?

He growled as his eyes skimmed the hanyou's face once more. Pure hatred burned in his heart for that man who had damned him forever into a hell of loneliness and despair. Inuyasha had stolen the one thing that was rightfully his by demon law...and for the last fifty years he had been biding his time and waiting for the perfect opportunity to have his revenge.

Glancing once more at the woman's picture, Naraku's grimace of rage melted into a smirk. Perhaps the time had finally come.

"Very well," he commented, his voice once more casual and without inflection as he carefully placed the folded paper back on his desk. Looking up at the young man before him, his eyes cooled so that he was all business. "Send in Kanna." He watched the youth disappear out the door before rising to his feet and moving to the window overlooking New York City.

From his vantage point, he could barely see the skyscraper that housed the offices of _Reality Check_ magazine. Narrowing his eyes, he knew at that precise moment that at least one of the Yamamoto brothers would be there going about his day, and the thought both excited and infuriated him. That family had ruined him completely. Their deaths could never come soon enough, never be slow enough, to satisfy him completely.

"My lord?" A soft, feminine voice drifted to him from across the room, and Naraku turned to find himself looking at one of his oldest and most loyal servants.

He'd found her in some long-forgotten ditch by the side of the road as an infant, cast off by her parents and clearly unwanted by any other. Even he had almost passed the wailing child and gone on his way when he'd suddenly felt the twinge of power that indicated she carried demon blood, and seeing the opportunity to add another loyal servant to his cause, he'd turned back and taken her home. Kanna had grown up absolutely dedicated to him. Flawless and strikingly beautiful with porcelain skin and shimmering white hair, she merely had to cast her deep, dark eyes on some unsuspecting man or woman to draw them into her webs of control.

It was her ultimate demonic power; the ability to manipulate the mind at will, to control it…especially a weak human mind.

But that was not all she could do. Kanna was also an expert with a gun in the modern era, having worked as Naraku's silent angel of death on a number of occasions, and her brilliant mind meant she was usually in charge of running his false company to at least keep him from drawing suspicion. In many ways, Naraku owed the woman his life, but he also knew that Kanna would never demand he pay up. So instead she simply remained the best decision he had ever made.

And now she stood before him, appearing physically no older than twenty, dressed in a black leather skirt and blood-red blouse, her hair pulled smartly into a ponytail, her booted foot tapping against the floor as she waited for his instructions.

His smirk actually blossomed into a smile at the sight. "Come here." She obeyed instantly, gliding across the floor to stand at his desk. He indicated the article. "Have you seen this?"

"I have, my lord."

"Then you know that the time has come to take the offensive?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Very well then. This is what you are to do." He explained the plan in great detail, knowing she would not fail him. When he finished, he reached into one of his desk drawers and removed a small hand gun, tossing it to her. She caught it with ease and habitually checked to make sure it was loaded and that the safety was in place before tucking it away on her belt.

Watching her, Naraku waited patiently until she appeared finished. "Do you understand, Kanna?"

She met his gaze, something she only did when she felt it was critical as it could be dangerous given her abilities, and he felt the familiar slight push on his mind as her powers automatically reached toward his. But he trusted her not to delve beyond what her mind did naturally, and simply waited. "It shall be done, my lord, exactly as you have commanded."

The grin that came to his face then was truly evil. "Excellent."

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Kagome rolled her eyes for what must have been the tenth time that morning as she listened to her mother question, yet again, the wisdom of dating someone as high profile as Inuyasha Yamamoto. "It's not that I don't trust you, sweetheart, or have faith in your decisions, but I just don't know if he's really the kind of man you want for your first real boyfriend."

"Mama, I already told you that he's not my boyfriend. He's just a friend. Well, sort of." Kagome didn't really know how to define Inuyasha. He was certainly not a friend, because friendship implied a mutual appreciation of one another's company (and she was fairly sure that required a conversation that was argument free for more than five minutes), but he was even less likely to fit the profile of a boyfriend. Especially _her_ boyfriend.

So what the hell was he?

"What do you mean by sort of?"

"Just that! I'm not really sure what's going on between us…but I know it's not a relationship."

"Well the papers certainly seem to think it is."

Exhaling sharply, praying for patience, Kagome leaned forward in the chair behind the checkout counter and looked down at the newspaper, seeing the picture of her alongside Inuyasha, which Sango had so graciously circled with a bright red marker. The brunette had been smiling so smugly Kagome had actually considered violent action toward her friend for the first time in her life.

"Look…Inuyasha and I are…well…" And again, words failed her. "It's complicated, mama."

There was a long pause while Kagome contemplated shredding the newspaper article that was being read by men and women all over New York City. Finally her mother spoke again, though she seemed unusually hesitant.

"Please tell me you and him don't have one of _those_ relationships, Kagome."

Uh-oh. She did not like the sound of that. "What are you talking about?"

"You know what I mean."

Kagome frowned and furrowed her brow. "Obviously I don't."

"You know…" Mrs. Higurashi's voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper. "Friends with benefits."

"Mama!" How did her mother even know about things like that? Kagome groaned. Scratch that last thought…she did not want to go there. "Absolutely not! I'm not sleeping with him."

"Well I had to ask."

"No you didn't."

"And how else would I have found out? By asking all your friends instead?"

Now Kagome was scowling. "You could have just trusted me to be reliable and smart! Is that such a novel idea?"

"Kagome…"

"No! I can't believe we're having this conversation!"

Now her mother just sounded tired. "You know I trust you, sweetheart. But I also understand that life can get very lonely without someone special, and I know it must be especially hard for you since, well…"

"Just spit it out."

"I'm not sure I appreciate that tone, young lady. I'm just trying to take care of you the only way I can with you living so far away."

"Well I'm not a child, mama. I don't need your help. Especially with men."

"Kagome Higurashi, I'm going to pretend you're not speaking to me this way. I'm going to hang up, and call you back later when we can talk like adults." The voice was matter of fact, and the following click signaled just how serious her mother was.

Now Kagome just wanted to start crying.

What the hell was happening to her simple, orderly life? A few weeks ago she'd been on cloud nine, moving onto Fifth Avenue with her business. Now she was being pursued by a man who clearly didn't like her (she still couldn't figure that one out), and he wasn't just any man; he was something of a celebrity. She didn't need that, especially since apparently dating a celebrity automatically turned her into a slut who slept around in her mother's eyes.

The bell on her door chimed, and Kagome plastered the customary smile on her face as she looked up to greet the customer. "Welcome to…" But her greeting, along with her smile, immediately faded as she saw who it was. "What the hell do you want?"

Inuyasha stood just inside the door blinking like an idiot. "What's your problem?"

"This!" She slammed the article onto the counter, but since he didn't even look at it he obviously already knew what the problem was.

"So your picture's in the paper." He shrugged and tucked his hands into his faded blue jeans. "Most people are excited about that…not royally pissed."

"Well I didn't ask for this!" She shot back, desperate for a fight and knowing she could get a good one out of Inuyasha Yamamoto if she pushed all the right buttons. "And now, thanks to you, I just had the first fight with my mother in over three years!"

He laughed. "You haven't fought with your mom in over three years?"

"Shut up, baka! This isn't funny!"

But he apparently thought it was, because he couldn't stop laughing as he sauntered up to the counter, and Kagome desperately clung to her anger in spite of the fact that he had a beautiful laugh. Finally he stopped, putting his hands on the counter, covering their picture as he leaned forward. "I thought you enjoyed yourself last night."

"And what would you know about it?"

"You told me when we dropped you off after the show."

She did? Damn…that was the last time she ever drank any alcohol. "Oh."

"Look, I'm sorry if the article upset you. I'm honestly so used to the media that by now I just ignore anything they publish. I forgot you weren't like that."

"Whatever…" Was he actually being pleasant? It just figured the one time she wanted a fight he wasn't willing to give her one. "So what are you doing here?"

"What am I ever doing here?"

"I'm not in the mood for another date."

"We don't have to go out. Miroku said this was a quiet time for the store, so I figured I'd stop by."

Why did the fact that he'd talked to Miroku about her cause Kagome to suddenly blush? She looked away. "Why?"

"Just talk, I guess."

"About what?"

"I don't know." Now he sounded slightly irritated. "Anything. Everything. Nothing. I could just sit and stare at you for a few hours."

She gave him a strange look. "You make it sound like you're clocking in and out for a job, not talking to a girl you've taken on a few dates." Surprisingly, he winced, and Kagome wondered if maybe she'd hit a sore spot. Who ever really knew with him? "Inuyasha?"

"Keh." He looked away.

Finally, taking pity on him because she couldn't help her nature, Kagome got out of her chair and walked around the counter to stand beside him. He tensed as she placed a hand on his arm, but she ignored his reaction. "Why don't I give you a tour of the store at the very least?"

He turned to look down at her, relief flooding his gaze, and Kagome's heart softened even more. At that moment he looked no different than a fourteen-year-old boy desperately trying to win the approval of the girl he thought would never even know he existed. "Sure."

"Well, you've already seen the back room," she started, firmly pushing memories of what had happened in said back room the day before from her mind. "So lets start with the upper floor." She guided him up the narrow black spiral stairs, and felt a swelling of pride as he acquired an impressed air.

"Not bad," he finally commented as he walked around. The space wasn't exactly large, but it was big enough to have two very comfortable-looking loveseats where customers could sit and enjoy their newfound treasures in peace. Mahogany bookcases lined all the walls, filled with various volumes of all sizes, small gold placards hanging above each case marking the genre; Romance, Science Fiction, Mystery, Western, Horror, General Fiction.

"This is where any work of fiction can be found," Kagome explained as he perused the space slowly, occasionally stopping to pick up a particular book. "Downstairs you can find all nonfiction, but I thought it would be nice to have the fiction on the upper floor where its generally quieter, that way people can read in peace if they want."

"There's sense in that," he agreed. In truth, Inuyasha was coming to admire Kagome more and more each time he saw her for what she'd done with her life. The bookstore was nothing short of a complete success, and she'd done it all at such a young age too…

He stopped at a particular bookcase that was strategically placed in the very center of the back wall, the first thing a person would see coming up the stairs. The placard above read KAGOME'S FAVORITES, and Inuyasha couldn't pass up the chance to learn more about her. After all, what a person read (or didn't read) spoke volumes about their personality.

Unfortunately, he found no help, because apparently Kagome Higurashi read just about every genre there was. "Are there any kinds of books you don't enjoy reading?" He finally found himself asking, though he didn't realize the thought had been voiced until she chuckled in response.

"I have to read everything to have a good understanding of what's out there. But I think if you look closer, you'll find there are more of some genres and less of others." A knowing grin lit her face, and she crossed her arms while simultaneously leaning against a bookcase. "That is what you're wanting to know, right? What kinds of books I really enjoy?"

For the first time in decades Inuyasha had to resist the urge to blush like some fledgling boy. Damn, she was good. "Well since you seem to have me all figured out, why don't you just save me the trouble of counting by telling me?"

She walked up to stand beside him and pulled one book from the shelf, handing it to him. "Here's a clue."

One look brought forth a groan of distaste. "You're one of those women?"

Obviously expecting that response, Kagome just laughed. "What do you mean by that?"

"The kind that reads sappy romance, sex scenes and all?"

She rolled her eyes and took the book back from him. "The Dark-Hunter series are not strictly romances. They're also full of adventure and emotion."

"And sex."

"And I see you're like typical men with your mind on only one thing."

"Hey!"

She grinned. "I'm just pointing out a fact." Kagome looked down again at the book in her hands, the image of a bare male torso in the foreground shrouded in darkness, a female dressed in a white satin gown just behind the man. True, it may on first glance look like a trashy romance novel, but it wasn't like the couple was intertwined in some nauseatingly false passionate embrace. Besides, it was one of her favorite books, by one of her favorite authors, and she hardly thought of it as a romance novel.

Although, looking at the title, _Night Pleasures_, she could certainly understand where that combined with the cover could give someone the wrong impression.

"It's honestly not what you think." He looked at her doubtfully, and she winked. "Not entirely."

Taking the book back with purposeful reluctance, Inuyasha appeased her by reading the back cover. Now that was interesting. He looked back up at Kagome. "Okay, so I'll admit I honestly didn't think you were into this sort of thing."

She rolled her eyes. "What sort of thing are you talking about now?"

"Vampires. Werewolves. Paranormal shit." She winced at his crude language, and he mentally berated himself for that slip of the tongue.

"Why wouldn't I be interested in that sort of thing?"

"You're just so clean cut."

"So?"

"Well…aren't clean cut girls into clean cut novels?"

"You're acting like paranormal books are dirty or something."

He shrugged. "Not dirty. Just not mainstream either."

Kagome thought about the sacred arrows she'd been trained to wield from a very young age, her family's strange living running the shrine, and the way she'd defied normal values by dropping out of college to pursue a career on her own instead. "I'd hardly call myself mainstream."

"Keh!" He grunted. "You're about as mainstream as they come, woman."

She narrowed her eyes and immediately retrieved the book from his hands, cradling it to her chest for a few seconds before replacing it back on the shelf alongside the rest of the Dark-Hunter novels she loved so much. "And you obviously don't know me very well if you think that, Mr. Yamamoto."

"And perhaps that could be remedied if you'd just be willing to talk to me more, Ms. Higurashi." Inuyasha leaned forward without even realizing what was happening, unknowingly trapping her against the bookcase, his arms braced on either side of her body. "Why are you always so unwilling to talk to me?"

"Because you always insult me."

"Why should I be nice to a woman who won't talk to me?"

"Why should I talk to a man who insults me?"

"You…" His comment stopped as the bell below rang, and he immediately sprang back as Kagome hastily walked back down the stairs to greet the customer.

Rubbing the back of his neck in agitation, Inuyasha started pacing, feeling very confused and not liking it one bit. He swore he became an entirely different person around Kagome…much more aware of her presence as a woman, much more willing to flirt, to seduce, to charm. Why?

Was it because of the fact that she might very well be his chosen mate?

Pulling the amulet forth from his shirt again, Inuyasha looked at it with pure loathing. A fool's magic, he decided. And it would hold no power over him. He wouldn't allow it.

Still…perhaps a visit to Sesshoumaru was in order. As much as he loathed talking to his brother, it had to be done. He had to learn more about the amulet and what kinds of power it could wield over his subconscious. Did it create desire for one's mate? Would something bad happen to Kagome if he didn't surrender the amulet that was rightly hers by demon law? And, most important of all, _could_ it force him to fall in love against his will?

Glancing back up at the bookcase with all of Kagome's favorite books, Inuyasha noted that there were, indeed, a lot of paranormal books and authors lining the shelves. Unconsciously he reached up and retrieved the book from earlier, _Night Pleasures_, and looked at it again.

On the surface it looked like a romance novel, but the back cover opened the door for other possibilities. And who would have guessed that Kagome Higurashi, with her brand-name sweaters and her perfectly combed hair, would be interested in books such as these?

_And you obviously don't know me very well if you think that, Mr. Yamamoto._

Her words bounced around in his brain like a ping-pong ball. Maybe she wasn't as easy to read as he'd thought, he admitted. Maybe, just maybe, there was more to her than met the eye.

Inuyasha returned the book to the shelf and looked at the other paranormal stories for a time.

A woman who was willing to believe in the paranormal couldn't be all bad, could she? After all, most people he knew rolled their eyes and laughed when such words as vampire, werewolf, and ghost were mentioned. It always irritated Inuyasha because he was one of those 'paranormal creatures' they shunned.

What if Kagome could…?

Oh hell no! Absolutely not!

Inuyasha could not believe the dangerous grey area his thoughts had just entered. He really needed to speak with Sesshoumaru before he did or said something he'd later regret.

He had too many regrets in his life already.

With that thought, he purposefully walked back down the stairs and out the door without so much as a goodbye to Kagome, who simply blinked in confusion at his abrupt departure.

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Kanna had been waiting patiently in the alley across from The Higurashi Bookstore for the better part of an hour, unmoving, practically invisible pressed against the brick wall.

It was now well passed midnight, and the young woman in the store had long since hung the closed sign on the door. Now it was just a matter of waiting for Kagome Higurashi to finish closing up and make her way home for the night. Finally, around 12:30, the lights went off and Kagome emerged, locking the door behind her, the curtains within drawn to cover the windows. Shrugging further into her long black jacket, she turned toward the street and proceeded to try and hail a cab.

Making sure her long black scarf was in place to hide her bright white hair and most of her pale face, Kanna put the wide dark sunglasses over her eyes so none would be drawn to look at her face as she stepped out into the main stream of people on the sidewalk. By then, Kagome had managed to get a cab, and was just closing the door. Tuning her senses so that all other noise disappeared around her, Kanna managed to make out the address the young woman gave the cab driver and nodded before disappearing back into the alley once more.

The cab disappeared, and a short moment later, a blur followed in the street, swerving expertly among the many cabs and other cars crowding the city streets. Pedestrians felt a slight breeze ruffle their clothes and touch their faces as she passed, but otherwise Kanna was unseen.

Soon she had overtaken Kagome's cab and proceeded toward the young woman's apartment. Once she reached the building, modest and squeezed between several other larger buildings, she again slipped into an alley to wait. About ten minutes later a cab pulled up on the curb in front of the stone steps leading into the building, and Kagome emerged while thanking the driver and pulling out the appropriate amount of cash to pay for the ride.

On cue, Kanna pulled forth the small handgun from her waistband, removing the safety. Taking a deep breath and steadying her heartbeat as her master had trained her, she waited until Kagome was all but alone on the quiet street before once more pouring forth an incredible burst of speed while simultaneously firing the shotgun. A scream followed her as she whirled around and zoomed past the now unconscious woman again to drop the piece of paper over her chest.

Stopping once more in the alley and adjusting her dark glasses, which had shifted slightly on her face, Kanna returned the gun to her waist while daring a glance around the corner of the alley to assure herself she'd done her job exactly as her master had commanded.

Her expressionless eyes saw Kagome Higurashi lying unconscious on the stone steps, her keys in her hand, a small amount of blood pooling on her right bicep where the bullet had grazed her skin…precisely where Kanna had aimed. She never missed.

The woman had obviously fainted from shock, which served her purpose even better, and Kanna also noted that the cutout of the article was nestled against the woman's collar.

Perfect.

Naraku would be pleased.

And with that thought, Kanna vanished just as several people rushed forward to aid the fallen woman.


	6. Chapter Six

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**

Well, I think I officially wrote this chapter at least twice, and both times my computer managed to crash and lose everything I wrote. So now, after three weeks in and out of the computer store, it's finally working again and not a moment too soon. Finals are this week, and studying is critical. Luckily for all of you, I'd written most of this previously, or else I wouldn't be able to post anything until mid-December, but I wanted to get this chapter out as soon as possible to say thanks for all of your wonderful support.

I can hardly believe fall term is already almost over, but at the same time I'm grateful. It's been hell on wheels for the last ten weeks, and I'm going out with a bang since I seem to have contracted a nasty virus that has my doctor scheduling me for a Mono test on Monday. Fabulous. Not.

Anyway, I hope you all continue to like how the story's progressing. More action to come later, but this chapter deals with emotions (namely Inuyasha's…lol). Blessings, everyone!

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Title: Strictly Off the Record

Author: dolphingirl0113

Chapter VI

Rating: PG-13 (for language and at times implied sexual situations)

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

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Standing stiffly against the wall, Inuyasha was horrified to realize he was actually squirming under the scrutiny of his brother's narrow-minded gaze. Damn! Why did Sesshoumaru still hold so much power over him?

Shifting his eyes between his brother's form and the floor, Inuyasha finally gathered the energy to move away from the wall and toward that huge mahogany desk. But once he was there, only feet away, he still remained silent. And Sesshoumaru made no move to help as he kept his eyes glued to his desk, flipping through documents so quickly if someone walked by they'd think he was just shuffling paper…but in reality the demon wasn't missing a single word.

It was strange…Inuyasha hadn't been truly afraid of Sesshoumaru since he was a child, but that didn't mean he had moved past the initial mixed feelings of awe and inadequacy that always rushed through his veins like a vicious drug every time he saw his older half brother. Sesshoumaru was the epitome of power, strength, and endurance…always calm when faced with a storm, taking every precaution, planning every move carefully before acting…and he was a full-fledged demon.

In short, Sesshoumaru Yamamoto was everything Inuyasha was not.

"So are you going to actually make use of my very valuable time, little brother, or are you just planning on standing there until I'm forced to have security remove you?

"Keh!" Inuyasha felt himself wake from the stupor he'd been in since the moment he'd walked into the office ten minutes ago. At least that was one positive change from when he was younger…the feelings of inadequacy eventually faded away. "I need you to answer a few questions for me."

Sesshoumaru didn't even look up from the folder he was flipping through. "I'm not letting you drop Kagome Higurashi as your assignment."

"Well in spite of the fact that question crosses my mind every day at least five times, that's not what I'm here about this time."

"Then what is it?" He still wasn't looking up. For some reason he couldn't explain Inuyasha felt bothered by Sesshoumaru's apparently uncaring attitude.

Thoughtlessly reaching into his shirt, he pulled out the amulet, still warm from the heat of his skin, and held it between his fingers, the lights overhead reflecting harshly off the gold of his name. Closing his eyes, he saw Kikyou…just as he always saw Kikyou when he looked at it. Kikyou's beautiful smile…Kikyou's caring eyes and velvety voice…Kikyou's shocked expression as she put her hand over the gaping bullet wounds in her chest only to pull back fingers coated red with blood…

And then blinding fury whipped through his mind, and without thinking Inuyasha tore the cord holding the amulet around his neck, ignoring the sting as it snapped against his skin, and threw it onto Sesshoumaru's desk, finally forcing the older man to stop what he was doing. "For once in your damn life I want you to listen to me!" He all but shouted.

His golden eyes observing him with a harsh glint, Sesshoumaru finally reached over and hit a small button on the wall behind him, causing the blinds to draw over all the windows, giving them complete privacy. "And what is the cause for this latest tantrum of yours, Inuyasha?"

"Tantrum? Is that all my emotions are to you? A stupid child's tantrum?" Inuyasha was furious. "You're partially to blame for the fact that she's dead, you bastard! If you'd told me what I needed to know about that cursed piece of junk, I would never have given it to Kikyou in the first place."

"I assumed father had explained it to you, brother."

"You did not. You just wanted to make sure you associated with your tainted half-brother as little as possible, and so you convinced yourself that contacting me wasn't necessary." He began pacing. "How could you not have known what I was doing, Sesshoumaru? You were in the middle of it as much as I was! Think about Kagura!"

"That is enough!" It was the first time in fifty years that Inuyasha had heard his brother raise his voice above a controlled monotone. Looking over, he saw Sesshoumaru's usual stoic mask in place, but his golden eyes were smoldering. "You will not speak her name now or ever."

Inuyasha plunged ahead anyway. Hell, he'd never been one to pay much attention to warnings. "Did you love her, Sesshoumaru? Did you love her in spite of the fact that she wasn't your true mate? Did you love her in spite of the fact that your amulet would never protect her and bind her to you?"

"Why are you asking me this?"

Inuyasha laughed, his voice cracking, the sound desolate. "Because I need to understand what kind of power that damn thing truly wields in my life!" He thrust his finger harshly at the round amulet mocking him from the desk. "It cost me the woman I loved, the woman I swore to protect, and to this day I still don't understand why." He turned pleading eyes upon his brother, hating himself for showing such weakness yet unable to stop. "Can't you tell me why, brother? Can't you just put aside your obvious hate for me for two seconds and tell me why?"

Sesshoumaru didn't shift expression or even twitch an eyebrow…but he did speak, his voice once more calm. "No one knows how exactly the amulets work, Inuyasha, or why…just that they do, and have been doing, since the beginning of time."

"Keh! That's no answer."

"It's the best one I have for you."

"Does it manipulate feelings?" He thought of Kagome and the way she managed to lower his inhibitions the moment she walked into a room, bringing out the side of him he never showed anyone…the side that was hurt, angry, and alone. "Does it force you to love the one it deems your mate?"

"Force is a rather harsh way of putting it."

"Answer the damn question!"

Sesshoumaru exhaled slowly, still glowering as though speaking at all was causing him great pain and he resented Inuyasha for it. "Nothing in this world or the next can manipulate someone's heart. Our hearts are our own, brother…they love whom they choose, and hate who they choose. They will not be contained, denied, or prevented once they decide on a course."

"Then what's the purpose of the amulet?"

"I already told you no one really understands. Some kind of mystical power…fate, destiny…call it whatever you like…chooses the partner best suited for you in this life. But that doesn't mean you are required to love that chosen partner. It just means that the magic of the amulet feels that person would create the strongest offspring or the best chances of survival…in short, it's purely scientific. Not romantic."

Inuyasha felt some of the tension drain away from his face as he stood back up to his full height, realizing that in his frustration he'd bent over and braced his hands against the desk. Still, there were many questions, like… "What happens then if you don't love your chosen mate? Are you required to be together anyway?"

"No. But before you make any hasty decisions, little brother, let me also point this out…eternity alone is a long time. And the amulet only recognizes one soul in the entire world as your mate. If you miss your chance with her, there will never be another opportunity."

"But you just said love is separate."

"Yes, I did." Suddenly, surprisingly, Sesshoumaru's eyes acquired a slightly hazy glow. "You could certainly love many in your long life, Inuyasha…you could love them more than life itself. But if they are not your mate, they will all grow old and die, and you will be forced to go on alone."

The panic was returning again, though he couldn't understand why. "What are you saying, Sesshoumaru?"

The haze cleared and Inuyasha was pinned by his brother's sharp gaze once more. "I'm saying for once in your life don't be an irrational fool who only lives in the moment. Think about the future, and what consequences your choices may have on that future."

Riddles…Sesshoumaru always seemed to be talking in riddles…

Keh. When he was talking at all.

Suddenly Inuyasha's cell phone rang, and without thinking he pulled the device from his pocket and flipped it open, the wireless earpiece immediately answering the call. "Yamamoto," he answered in his usual professional voice, his eyes still locked with his brother.

"Inuyasha! Oh good, you're not off on one of your runs."

"Miroku, what's wrong?" The hanyou tried to keep his voice casual, but inside his journalist instincts had kicked into full swing. Something wasn't right, and he had to find out what that something was.

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

"By God, Sango, if you ask me how I'm feeling one more time I'm going to lock you out of my apartment!" Kagome's eyes were trained on the ceiling, praying for patience, knowing her best friend meant well even as she violently jerked the spoon in the pot of noodles that were currently softening on the stove.

Taking the hint, the brunette lowered her gaze and continued chopping vegetables for the salad she was preparing. "I can't help being worried about you, Kagome. I got the scare of a lifetime today when I received a call from the hospital telling me my best friend in the whole world had been shot."

Looking at Sango with exasperation, Kagome rolled up the sleeve of her shirt to display the clean white square bandage over her shoulder. "I wasn't shot, Sango…a bullet grazed my shoulder. A bullet that the police are positive wasn't even intended for me."

"They don't know that."

"All the evidence points to that conclusion, and you know it." Seeing her friend still refusing to believe it, Kagome pushed even harder. "Come on, Sango…you're smarter than this. The police interviewed five eyewitnesses who heard the shot and saw me faint, and none of them actually saw someone pull a gun on me. Frankly, they were all convinced the sound of the gun came from an odd direction anyway. So in the end I was just the unlucky one who caught the end of a fight between other people."

Sango finished cutting up a few carrots and silently emptied them into the large wooden salad bowl before proceeding to garnish the creation with cheese. "I don't know, Kagome…this is a safe neighborhood you live in. There's never been any gun fights or drug dealing or anything shady on these streets before."

"And what's that supposed to mean? How does that information suddenly make me a target?"

"I don't know…"

"I mean it's not like there's been any major changes in my life that would bring this about. I'm still going about business the way I always have. Ordering from the same companies. Stocking the shelves with the same kinds of books. Hanging out with the same people." She gave Sango a playful nudge with her foot at that, causing the brunette to smile in spite of herself. "Face it…I'm still the same boring best friend you've had for the last five years, and nothing about my life has changed enough to warrant someone suddenly targeting me with a gun."

"I suppose you're right."

"Of course I'm right. So stop worrying."

Sango laughed and started to reply when the buzzer alerted them to the fact that someone wanted to get into the building to see her. Giving each other puzzled frowns, Kagome handed off the colander she'd been about to use to strain the noodles and walked over to the door, pressing the button on the intercom as she did so. "Yes?"

"Hey! It's me!"

Kagome sighed and released a breath at the familiar voice, realizing that perhaps her ordeal, while purely a result of bad luck, had affected her a little more than she cared to admit. Her nerves seemed just a little too raw for her taste.

Still, she managed to sound normal when she replied. "Are you here to join the party, Miroku?"

"Only if this is the hottest hangout in Manhattan, as my sources have led me to believe."

Kagome laughed, and Sango echoed it. "Your sources might have exaggerated just a bit. But you can come up anyway." She hit the button to unlock the gate below, and opened her door slightly before walking back to the small kitchen area to finish fixing dinner.

Miroku appeared a few seconds later carrying a bottle of wine, but to Kagome and Sango's surprise, he was not alone.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome felt his name slide off her tongue before she had a chance to stop it.

He stood in her doorway looking distraught, to say the least, a small piece of paper clutched in his hands as his eyes raked over her body carefully, clearly looking for traces of blood or bruising or other forms of injury. Finally, seeing none, he stopped and met her eyes. "Miroku told me what happened. I figured I'd better come by and make sure you were ok."

"Oh." She didn't know why that warmed her the way it did, but then again Kagome reminded herself that a girl would have to be completely daft not to appreciate the concern of such a handsome (and famous, she reminded herself) man. "Well I'm fine. You didn't really have to come and see me. Thanks for your concern, though."

She could have kicked herself for sounding so callous, and could tell by the way his face instantly hardened that it wasn't lost on him either.

Trying to make amends, she indicated the damp noodles in the sink and the pasta sauce with her head. "Would you like to stay for dinner? We made more than enough food."

He seemed surprised by the offer, and she could tell he wanted to refuse, but in the end something pushed him to nod his head instead. "Alright."

"Perfect." She smiled brightly and proceeded to place wine glasses on her modest little table, feeling Inuyasha's eyes follow her as she moved and doing her best to ignore them.

He couldn't help it. There had been so much unexpected fear when Miroku had told him what happened. Inuyasha couldn't explain it, didn't want to delve into his feelings further for fear of what he'd find, but even so he'd insisted on coming over to see Kagome Higurashi for himself to assure his worried mind that she was alright.

Glancing down at the paper in his hands, he reminded himself that his concern wasn't just for Kagome's sake. There were much darker forces at work, drawing him forcefully back into the past, and he had a bad feeling it was his sudden appearance in Kagome's life that made her a target.

But what did it mean?

"_This was found on her chest by one of the witnesses," Miroku stated in a voice that was straining to be calm. He handed over a small slip of paper that Inuyasha took without hesitation._

_Flicking his eyes over it briefly, he only felt more confused, not less, when he looked back up at his friend. "It's just the article about our trip to the opera last night. What's the big deal?"_

"_The big deal is that I know Kagome didn't cut it out of the paper and circle her head in red."_

_Inuyasha looked again and had to admit that Miroku had a point. The article had been neatly cut out of the newspaper, and then someone had not only circled Kagome's head with a read pen, but had also proceeded to highlight her name each time it appeared in the article. A shiver ran down his spine at the implication that…_

"Inuyasha? Hello?" Kagome was waving a hand over his face, jolting him out of his thoughts, and the hanyou blinked before looking down at her honest, kind smile.

Tucking the article into his jeans pocket, not wanting to scare her any more than she no doubt already was, he grunted in response. "Yeah?"

She giggled. "Dinner's ready. But you're welcome to just stare at my ceiling all night if you want. I certainly don't mind."

"Keh." The corners of his lips actually threatened to turn up into a smile, though Inuyasha stomped down that reaction efficiently enough. The woman had spunk…he had to give her that much at least. That night she'd been grazed by a bullet (and unlike the police he was convinced it had been no accident) and yet she was still able to joke and smile.

Perhaps she'd been correct in insisting he didn't really know her that well after all.

Dinner was uneventful and pleasant, with warmth and friendship seeming to fill every square inch of Kagome's modest little studio apartment. Even Inuyasha couldn't help but feel affected by the time dessert was passed around, something tense and firm uncoiling in his chest.

He'd never had friendships like this. He'd never known or understood such companionship. No cell phone would have rung to alert people he'd been grazed by a bullet if he'd never met Miroku. And even now he was callous toward his best friend, causing him to wonder why Miroku even stayed with him most days.

Kagome said something amusing that caused Miroku and Sango to laugh, and Inuyasha realized, almost in desperation, that he wished he could laugh with them. He suddenly, for the first time, wanted to let go of his inhibitions, fears, and mental crosses. He wanted to be able to forget what had been done to him in the past…of all that he'd lost…if only so that he could have nights like these, with friends who truly cared whether he lived or died.

Even with Kikyou he'd been strained. He'd shared his pain with her, but never his smile. Sometimes he'd feared she wouldn't accept him if she'd seen the more gullible, innocent side of his nature.

In Kagome's presence it was exactly the opposite. With her, he feared being turned away for being too dark, depressing, and serious.

"Hey Inuyasha, are you still with us?"

"Shut up, Miroku." His cheeks turned slightly pink, even though he knew no one could possibly know what he'd been thinking about. He didn't like this sudden need to be with others. It was a weakness, and all weaknesses were to be eliminated from his life as quickly as possible. End of story.

So why did his chest become so painfully tight at the thought of never seeing Kagome again? Why had he been more concerned with her welfare when Miroku had first called him, then he had been about interpreting the hidden message on the newspaper article? Usually he was always about business…totally professional…

The floor rumbled slightly as people pushed back chairs and rose to their feet, Inuyasha dutifully following with his dishes and placing them in the sink.

"Well, I'd better get going, babe," Sango finally commented with a yawn to accent her point. "I have to get up early tomorrow for a special private session with one of my students."

"Alright Sango." Kagome walked her friend to the door and the pair embraced. "And I do appreciate you coming over, in spite of what I may have said earlier."

Sango just laughed. "Kagome, if I wasn't able to ignore your temper, we wouldn't have made it this long."

"I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult."

"Maybe a little of both." The brunette winked but then frowned as Miroku appeared at her side. "What are you doing?"

He gave her an impish grin. "Walking you home."

Sango's look turned skeptical. "Oh no you don't. The last time you did that I had to practically beat you off with a stick to keep you from coming upstairs."

"Come on, Sango…I promise I'll behave…please?" His violet eyes were practically shining with honesty and innocent intentions, neither of which Kagome believed he even remotely felt. Still, she wasn't surprised when her friend caved and agreed.

"Fine. Let's go." She grabbed her purse, but then looked at Inuyasha and frowned. "But what about Inuyasha? I'm sure he doesn't really want to walk me home too."

Miroku waved his hand as though that were obvious. "He can stay here a little longer. I'm sure he'll appreciate relaxing, since he's had kind of a long day anyway."

"I'm glad you read minds now, Miroku."

"Come on, Inuyasha, it's not like Kagome bites or anything."

"That's hardly the point."

But Miroku was already walking out the door and clearly planning to ignore Inuyasha's last comment or obvious displeasure about the situation. With one final wink at Kagome over his shoulder, he was gone, and she chuckled on behalf of Sango, who she had a feeling would require that stick of hers before the night was over.

Turning around she almost stumbled into Inuyasha's broad chest, and immediately felt the tension in the room go up a few degrees. Looking up into his amber eyes, she blushed and immediately glanced away again. "Look…you really don't have to stay if you don't want to." He frowned at her, and she rushed on, feeling worse by the second. "I mean, I'm sorry Miroku kind of abandoned you here. I'm sure you were already brought over under protest, and-"

"I told you I was worried about you," he interrupted.

"Oh." She blushed some more, but her eyes softened. "Well…um…"

Looking equally uncomfortable, Inuyasha rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat. "Kagome, maybe the better thing to do is for me to remind you that I don't have to stay."

Her eyes flashed up to his instantly. "Why would I not want you to stay?" The instant the words left her mouth she could have kicked herself. Still, she didn't miss the slight twitch of his lips in response, or the way his chest seemed to expand.

Males, she decided with an inward roll of her eyes, were so predictable. They seemed to desire only three things in life: food, sex, and the strength to claim a female who they would then proceed to drag off to their cave, fighting off anyone who tried to stop them with a club.

"It's a nice place you have here," He finally offered, and it occurred to Kagome that he was actually being civil for once. They hadn't argued all evening. She liked that.

"Thanks." It wasn't really anything spectacular, but she took the compliment anyway. It was a typical studio apartment, not too large and not too small, Japanese screens from her family's shrine doing their best to divide the space into rooms. Windows on the far wall were divided in two so that her bedroom and living area could both have a little light, and the dining area was also closed off but was still in view of the tiny little kitchen and laundry room (more like a laundry closet) at the back of the apartment.

But the thing that truly made Kagome feel at home were the shelves of books that lined nearly every wall. She'd been collecting them since she was a girl, only getting rid of one if she truly didn't enjoy reading it. It meant that even at her age she'd managed to acquire quite a collection; one that she was very proud of.

Obviously mirroring her thoughts, Inuyasha began browsing the shelves much like he'd browsed her favorites at the bookstore earlier in the day. "How many do you suppose you have now?"

"I don't know. Hundreds. I only have about half my collection here with me."

He looked at her with wide eyes. "You're kidding."

"No." She giggled. "I love to collect books. I hope some day I can have a big house with a big library of my own to go and read, and where other people can go read too if they like."

"Planned it all out, have you?"

She shrugged. "Not really. Just the library."

"Just like any woman. Always planning for things that won't happen for another ten years."

Kagome bristled but managed to keep her temper in check. "There's nothing wrong with planning for the future, you know, or knowing what you want out of life. Frankly, if you don't know then you'll just spin your wheels until it's too late."

"I tend to take a more adventurous approach," he replied without looking, still perusing her books, which were all put away alphabetically by author. "I like to just go where life takes me, and enjoy the pleasures that come with each unexpected new thing in my life."

"And what about the consequences?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well you can hardly expect to go through life like that without making certain mistakes."

His eyes darkened at that. "You have no idea."

Kagome frowned. "Are you alright, Inuyasha?"

"I'm fine." But he said it a little too quickly…a little too sharply. She didn't believe him, he could tell right that right away.

Unconsciously he reached into his shirt while forcibly continuing to peruse her books (there were some impressive titles, he had to admit, on her shelves). Pulling the amulet out, he began running his fingers over it, thinking of Kikyou and the greatest mistake of his life.

There was a small gasp behind him and he turned to look at Kagome quickly, fearing perhaps she was in pain from whatever wound she'd incurred earlier that night. But she wasn't looking like she was in pain. Frankly, she looked like someone who had been shown the greatest treasure in the entire world and was now utterly hypnotized by it.

"Kagome?"

She blinked slowly, but didn't look away from…his chest. "What a beautiful necklace," she whispered, taking a step toward him.

Inuyasha's blood immediately turned icy with dismay. The amulet. She was drawn to the amulet.

Taking a step back, he put his hand over it almost protectively. "Kagome…"

"Where did you get that?" She followed him across the room.

"It was made for me," he replied without even thinking, in this case figuring the truth would be easier than some kind of lie.

"It's beautiful."

"Not really."

Looking up at him briefly, she smiled and shook her head. "If I'm a typical woman than you're just as typical of a guy. You wouldn't know beauty if it hit you between the eyes."

"Beauty?" There was something about her eyes at that moment, seeming to glow with an inner light that drew him forward. He knew what beautiful was. She was beautiful…his mother had been beautiful…Kikyou had been… "No!"

Kagome stopped, as if waking from some kind of trance, and he took the opportunity to thrust the amulet back underneath his shirt. "Inuyasha?"

"This amulet is not yours," he snapped, and she blinked in confusion.

"I never said it was. I just said that-"

"It will never be yours, do you understand? It belongs to Kikyou. It should have belonged to Kikyou. No one else."

"Kikyou?" Kagome frowned and stepped back a few more paces, feeling wounded but unsure why. "That's the second time you've mentioned my aunt's name to me. Why?" But he was headed for the door, and she felt like she wanted to cry with frustration and confusion. "Inuyasha, what's going on? What did I do wrong?"

Damn…now she was going to start crying. He groaned and rolled his eyes, praying for patience even as every survival instinct he possessed was screaming at him to get out fast. "You did nothing wrong. I just…I need…want…" He fumbled for words as he fumbled to put on his jacket. "I have to go."

"Inuyasha!" He ignored her protest as he flew out the door and shut it abruptly behind him, pausing at the top of the stairs and taking several deep breaths to calm his racing heart. To his surprise he didn't pick up on the sound of tears through the door as he had expected.

Good. At least she wouldn't cry over him.

Turning to walk down the stairs once more, he desperately tried to get his racing heart to slow down, his thoughts scattering to the four winds even as he ran about trying to collect them and put them back together again.

There was no doubt…no question. She was the one his amulet had chosen. Only a chosen mate would be drawn to the amulet like she had been, would pulse in her presence, would…

He shook his head, not wanting to deal with that reality. He didn't want Kagome as his mate! He couldn't bear it! She looked so much like…

"Kikyou…"

Damn, had he learned nothing? Had Kikyou's death taught him nothing about what attachments could do to people? They were a weakness, just like companionship, and all weaknesses must be removed from his life if he were to survive. It was the code of conduct he'd been forced to live by all his life, first when he was turned away by all, and later when he was welcomed into their circle and betrayed just as much as they betrayed everyone else.

Humans could not be trusted, and enemies could always be trusted to attack his weaknesses. In either case, love and friendship were a hindrance to him. Nothing more.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he turned and looked back up the narrow hallway, still able to see Kagome's door at the top, and felt his ears flatten as a soft whine escaped his lips.

If it was such a weakness, then why couldn't he forget the wonderful warmth that had been in Kagome's home? He'd felt so welcomed tonight among them, as though he belonged to something greater than himself. A unit…a unit of friends, rather than an army of one against the world.

And damn him for wanting such things in his life.

He was a hanyou. A half-breed. An abomination. So disgusting his own brother had wanted nothing to do with him for most of his life. Villages had turned him away, human and demon children alike had mocked him if their parents even allowed them to come close, and the memory of the tears he'd shed in his mother's arms still burned in his eyes to this day.

"Mother…" Even she had been destroyed by love in the end. She and his father, who he'd believed to be invincible, had been destroyed.

Inuyasha could still recall coming back from that campaign with his father and brother, having secured their position as leaders of the Western Lands yet again. It had been the first time he'd been deemed old enough and strong enough to accompany his father, and he'd been thrilled.

But then they'd come home, and instead of being welcomed by Lady Izayoi's open arms, they'd been greeted by a deafening silence.

The Inu no Taisho had demanded sharply to be told where his wife was, and one of their servants had appeared, bravely informing him that she had been taken away in the month they'd been gone, tried, and burned as a witch for her dark deeds.

They all knew the truth, of course…the true nature of her supposedly dark deeds; that she had been a human who loved and married a demon, giving birth to an abomination and loving it as dearly as any child born to any mother had ever been…but it didn't matter. She was gone, and they had all felt the absence of her presence, even Sesshoumaru.

It had been the first time Inuyasha ever saw his father lose control. Wounded himself from battle, he'd nonetheless charged after his wife's murderers, following their scent through the forest until he came to the village where she'd died. They hadn't even bothered to remove the pier or bury the ashes, and the sight and smell had driven the great dog demon mad with rage. With a mighty roar he'd used one of his swords to level the entire village, only after the fact realizing that it was a trap.

A trap that had killed him.

What cut at Inuyasha the most was the fact that his father hadn't even tried to survive. He knew, as did Sesshoumaru, that if the great Inu no Taisho had wanted to escape alive, he would have. But the loss of his beloved wife had taken away his will to live, and he'd gone to his death if only to be with her again.

Romantic, some would call it.

Keh! Inuyasha called it foolish nonsense.

As a child he'd always yearned for the love his parents had shared…dreamed of what his chosen mate would be like. But then they'd been destroyed, his mother for loving a demon, and his father because he'd lost the woman he loved…and Inuyasha had understood, painfully, that love was not strength. It was the ultimate weakness.

So why was he finding it so damn difficult to walk away from Kagome Higurashi's apartment building? Every step he took felt like he was moving through molasses, as though his entire being rebelled against leaving her alone.

In the end Inuyasha just plopped down on one of the cement steps that led to the main door of the building, crossing his legs and arms before lowering his chin, deep in thought. He could still smell Kagome's scent on his jacket, and found it strangely comforting, turning his nose into the collar more than once to sniff.

But then he realized that it wasn't just his coat that carried his scent.

Frowning, Inuyasha narrowed his eyes and leaned down toward the steps themselves, sniffing delicately and immediately catching not only the scent of Kagome, but also of Kagome's blood.

Without thinking, a low growl rumbled out of his chest.

Someone had dared to attack her tonight. Someone had dared to attack Kagome Higurashi, his…

Puzzled whispers greeted him, and Inuyasha hastily sat up straight once more, realizing he must look like a fool sitting on the steps and growling at them. Rising to his feet, he moved hastily away before he did something stupid (like run back up to Kagome's apartment and play watchdog for her), but even as he walked away he knew he'd be coming back. He had to. His fame, if nothing else, had put her in the spotlight and made her a target.

She was his responsibility now, like it or not. And he didn't like it, he assured himself, even as some small part of his heart skipped a beat at the thought.


End file.
